THE  RIGHTS  OF 
WOMEN  AND  THE 
SEXUAL  RELATIONS 


From  the  German  of 

KARL  HE1NZEN 


BERKEUV 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  Of 
CALIFORNIA 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

AND  THE 

SEXUAL  RELATIONS 


BY  KARL  HEINZEN. 


PART  I. 

AN  ADDRESS  TO  AN  UNKNOWN  LADY  READER 


PART  II. 

LUISE  MEYEN  ON  MEN  AND  WOMEN 

The  Convention  of  German  Women  in  Frauenstadt 

Concerning  Womanhood  and  Manhood 


CHICAGO 

CHARLES  H.  KERR  &  COMPANY 

56  Fifth  Avenue 


I 

Copyright,  1891.  by  Karl  Rchmrmann 


Copyright.  1898,  by  Kakl  Schmemann 


Utj 


$9$ 


PREFACE. 


The  following  treatise  comes  from  the  pen  of 
one  of  the  most  enlightened  and  humanitarian 
spirits  of  our  time,  whose  libertarian  and  reforma- 
tory labors  were  not  limited  to  his  German  father- 
land and  this  republic,  his  adopted  home,  but 
extended  to  the  entire  civilized  world  by  their 
unique  and  masterful  many-sidedness.  The  author, 
who,  after  he  had  broken  his  fetters  in  despotic 
Europe,  lived  in  this  country  during  the  larger 
and  most  fertile  period  of  his  life  and  brought  to 
light  his  ripest  spiritual  treasures  here,  unfortu- 
nately remained  unknown  to  the  great  majority 
of  his  American  fellow-citizens.  He  counted  as 
his  friends  only  the  most  enlightened  men  of  his 
time  who  could  appreciate  his  quiet  greatness. 
This  remarkable  fact,  I  believe,  may  be  explained 
by  the  observations  which  the  life-long  friend  of 
Karl  Heinzen,  Dr.  Marie  E.  Zakrzewska  of  Boston, 


033 


IV  PREFACE. 

embodied  in  her  autobiography,*  dedicated  to 
the  well-known  American  poetess,  Mary  L.  Booth  : 
"  The  German  mind,  so  much  honored  in  Europe 
for  its  scientific  capacity,  for  its  consistency  re- 
garding principles,  and  its  correct  criticism,  is  not 
dead  here ;  but  it  has  to  struggle  against  diffi- 
culties too  numerous  to  be  detailed  here ;  and 
therefore  it  is  that  the  Americans  don't  know  of 
its  existence,  and  the  chief  obstacle  is  their  dif- 
ferent languages.  A  Humboldt  must  remain  un- 
known here,  unless  he  chooses  to  Americanize 
himself  in  every  respect :  and  could  he  do  this 
without  ceasing  to  be  Humboldt,  the  cosmopoli- 
tan genius?" 

Among  the  friends  of  Heinzen  referred  to, 
Wendell  Phillips,  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  and 
Charles  Sumner  are  especially  to  be  mentioned. 
At  the  memorial  gathering  held  on  February  22, 
1 88 1  (Heinzen  died  November  12,  1880),  Wendell 
Phillips  said  concerning  him  : 

*  Practical  Illustration  of  Woman's  Right  to  Labor;  or,  A 
Letter  from  Marie  E.  Zakrzewska,  M.D.  Edited  by  Caroline 
H.  Dall,  author  of  "  Historical  Pictures  Retouched,"  etc.,  etc. 
Boston:  Walker,  Wise  &  Co.  i860.  A  book  that  ought  to  be 
read  by  everybody  who  is  interested  in  the  solution  of  the 
woman's  question. 


PREFACE.  V 

"  I  never  met  him  on  the  streets  without  a  feel- 
ing of  the  highest  respect,  and  this  respect  I 
paid  the  rare,  almost  unexampled  courage  of  the 
man.  Mr.  Heinzen  in  this  respect  stands  almost 
alone  among  the  immigrants  to  these  shores.  His 
idea  of  human  right  had  no  limitation.  His  re- 
spect for  the  rights  of  a  human  being  as  such 
was  not  to  be  shaken.  The  temptation  to  use 
his  talent  to  gain  reputation,  money,  power,  at  a 
time  when,  a  poor  emigrant,  he  lacked  all  these 
and  was  certain  of  acquiring  them,  was  great ;  yet 
all  these  he  laid  calmly  aside  for  trie  sake  of  the 
eternal  principle  of  right,  of  freedom.  He  es- 
poused the  detested  slave  cause  at  a  time  when 
to  do  so  meant  poverty,  desertion  of  fellow-coun- 
trymen, scorn,  persecution  even.  Thus  he  acted 
in  every  cause.  What  seemed  to  him  right,  after 
the  most  unsparing  search  for  truth,  he  upheld 
no  matter  at  what  cost  During  the  war,  feeling 
that  through  ignorance  or  timidity  on  the  part  of 
Lincoln's  government  precious  lives  and  treas- 
ures were  being  wasted,  he  was  foremost  among 
a  few  leading  men  who  proposed  the  nomination 
of  Fremont  for  the  presidency.  We  had  many 
private  meetings  and  much  correspondence  with 
leading  men   in   New  York.     I  shall  never  forget 


VI  PREFACE. 

some  of  these  conversations  with  Mr.  Heinzen. 
He  was  so  far-seeing  and  sagacious ;  he  was  so  in- 
genious and  contriving;  his  judgment  so  penetrat- 
ing. 

"  One  other  characteristic  he  had,  belonging  only 
to  truly  great  men.  There  was  a  kind  of  serenity 
and  dignity  about  him,  as  one  sure  of  the  right  in 
the  course  which  he  took,  in  the  principles  which 
he  stated.  He  was  far  in  advance  of  other  minds  ; 
but  he  was  sure  in  his  trust  in  human  nature  that 
all  others  would  come,  must  come  to  the  same 
point  with  himself.  He  could  wait.  Few  pos- 
sessing equal  mental  ability  are  able  also  to  do 
this.  The  greatest  courage  is  to  dare  to  be 
wholly  consistent.  This  courage  Heinzen  showed 
when  a  little  yielding,  so  little  as  would  have  been 
readily  pardoned  on  the  ground  of  common-sense, 
would  have  gained  him  popularity,  fame,  money, 
power.     He  remained  true  to  himself. 

"  Prominent  men  gained  much  from  him,  but 
never  acknowledged  their  obligations.  He  shaped 
many  minds  that  led  and  created  public  opinion. 
His  indeed  was  a  life  of  trial,  gladly  borne  with- 
out murmur  of  complaint,  and  his  reward  must 
be  in  the  future. 

"  When  I  think  of   that  lofty  life  there  come 


PREFACE.  VI 1 

always  to  my  mind  those  words  of  Tocqueville 
which  Sumner  loved  to  quote:  'Remember  life 
is  neither  pain  nor  pleasure  ;  it  is  serious  busi- 
ness, to  be  entered  upon  with  courage,  with  the 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice.'  Surely  if  any  life  ever 
exemplified  that  ideal,  it  is  the  one  we  meet  to 
remember  and,  as  far  as  we  can,  to  imitate — that 
of  Karl  Heinzen." 

As  a  German-American  writer  has  said  of  him, 
Heinzen  was  what  Goethe  called  eine  Natur  ;  that 
is,  a  character  of  singularly  original  development, 
a  man  of  one  mould,  who  remained  true  to  him- 
self-in  all  conditions  of  life,  and  who  valued  this 
fidelity  to  self  higher  than  all  external  positions 
and  all  the  favors  of  the  world.  He  knew  of  no 
loftier  ambition  than  obedience  to  his  own  teach- 
ings:  "Learn  to' endure  everything,  only  not 
slavery;  learn  to  dispense  with  everything,  only 
not  with  your  self-respect ;  learn  to  lose  every- 
thing, only  not  yourself.  All  else  in  life  is  worth- 
less, delusive,  a»nd  fickle.  Man's  only  sure  sup- 
port is  in  himself,  in  his  individuality,  resting  in 
its  own  power  and  sovereignty."  Besides  he  was 
a  writer  who  knew  how  to  wield  his  pen  as  almost 
none  of  his  contemporaries,  certainly  not  one  of 
the  writers  of   the  German   tongue  in  this  coun- 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

try  ;  who  as  none  else  knew  how  to  express  his 
thoughts  in  the  most  pregnant,  incisive,  and 
energetic  form — a  master  of  pure  classical  style. 

That  a  spirit  who  could  proclaim  such  princi- 
ples was  bound  to  throw  his  entire  revolutionary 
energy  on  the  side  of  the  liberation  of  woman 
from  the  fetters  of  social  and  political  slavery  is 
a  matter  of  course. 

The  treatise  here  submitted,  which  appeared 
for  the  first  time  in  the  German  language  in  1852 
and  later  in  an  expanded  form  in  1875,  iS  trans- 
lated into  English  by  an  American  lady  of  German 
descent,  Mrs.  Emma  Heller  Schumm,  of  Boston  ;* 


*  Perhaps  this  is  the  proper  place  to  state  that,  greatly  as  I 
admire  and  esteem  the  character  and  genius  of  Karl  Heinzen, 
I  cannot  entirely  agree  with  all  the  views  laid  down  in  the 
following  treatise.  From  some  of  the  positions  taken  therein 
I  emphatically  dissent.  Not  where  he  is  most  radical  and 
thoroughgoing  in  his  advocacy  of  liberty  in  the  sexual  relations 
and  of  the  independence  of  woman,  for  I  am  with  him  there  ; 
but  where  he  seems  to  forget  his  radicalism,  and  to  lose  his 
grand  confidence  in  the  power  of  liberty  to  rejuvenate,  to  regu- 
late, and  to  moderate,  and  falls  back  upon  the  State  for  that 
readjustment  and  guidance  of  human  affairs  which  one  day  will 
be  accomplished  only  in  liberty  and  by  liberty, — it  is  there 
where  I  radically  dissent;  and  I  make  this  statement  for  the 
sake  of  setting  myself  right  with  those  who  happen  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  my  views  on  these  points. 

Goethe  says  somewhere:  "  Die  Menschen  werden  durch 
Meinungen  getrennt,  durch  Gesinnungen  vereinigt" — Men  are 


PREFACE.  IX 

and  it  is  the  intention  of  the  publisher,  in  case 
the  demand  for  this  treatise  should  give  him  any 
encouragement,  to  continue  the  publication  in 
English  translation  of  the  immortal  treasures  of 

separated  by  their  opinions,  but  united  by  the  spirit  that 
governs  them.  Thus,  notwithstanding  our  disagreement  as 
regards  the  manner  of  attaining  a  desirable  end,  I  am  proud  to 
call  myself  a  follower  of  Karl  Heinzen  as  regards  the  spirit 
with  which  he  approached  all  questions  of  human  concern. 
This  spirit,  as  well  as  the  fundamental  ideas  underlying  the 
following  treatise,  cannot,  as  I  take  it,  be  better  epitomized 
than  by  the  following  quotation  from  the  pen  of  one  of  the  con- 
tributors to  "  Liberty  "  of  Boston  : 

"  Woman's  emancipation  means  freedom,  liberty.  It  means 
liberty  pure  and  simple;  failing  of  which,  it  is,  according  to  its 
degree,  oppression,  suppression,  tyranny.  It  means  liberty  to 
enter  any  and  all  fields  of  labor,— trade,  profession,  science, 
literature,  and  art, — and  liberty  to  compete  for  the  highest 
positions  in  the  land.  Liberty  to  choose  her  companion,  and 
equal  liberty  to  change.  Liberty  to  embrace  motherhood  in 
her  own  way,  time,  and  place,  and  freedom  from  the  unjustly 
critical  verdict  and  action  of  society  concerning  her  move- 
ments. She  will  no  longer  recognize  society's  right  to  con- 
demn in  her  practices  condoned  in  man.  No  more  a  slave,  she 
will  be  a  true  comrade;  independent  of  man,  as  he  is  inde- 
pendent of  her;  dependent  on  him,  as  he  is  dependent  on  her. 
And  the  sex  question  will  be  settled.  All  this,  and  more,  when 
woman  shall  be  free,  and  enjoy  an  equality  of  liberty  with 
man." 

And  in  this  view  my  task  in  getting  out  the  treatise  now  for 
the  first  time  submitted  to  the  English-reading  public  has  been 
a  source  of  great  delight  to  me,  and  I  can  only  join  with  Mr. 
Schmemann  in  the  hope  that  women  will  give  it  the  welcome 
it  deserves,  and  that  it  may  point  out  the  way  to  liberty  to 
many  an  oppressed  sister. — Translator. 


X  PREFACE. 

Heinzen's  thought  and  thus  make  them  accessible 
to  the  American  reading  public. 

In  this  treatise  the  cause  of  the  emancipation 
of  woman  finds  its  most  brilliant  championship, 
as  it  has  hardly  ever  before  been  discussed  with 
less  reserve  and  greater  freedom.  I  cherish  the 
hope  that  its  circulation  will  largely  contribute 
towards  enlightening  the  public  on  this  most  im- 
portant question,  in  order  thereby  to  hasten  its 
speedy  solution.  The  translator  as  well  as  the 
publisher  would  in  that  'case  feel  themselves 
amply  rewarded  for  their  unselfish  labor,  while 
the  lofty  intentions  of  the  author  would  meet 
with  their  full  realization. 

Karl  Schmemann. 

Detroit,  June,  1891. 


CONTENTS. 

PART  I.  Page. 

An  Address  to  an  Unknown  Lady  Reader I 

Historical  Review  of  the  Legal  Position  of  Women. . .  6 

The  Emancipation  of  Woman 30 

The  Passive  Prostitution  of  Women 41 

The  Active  Prostitution  of  Men 47 

The  Excuses  of  Men 55 

Love  and  Jealousy 62 

Morality   70 

Marriage 80 

Adultery  104 

Divorce  113 

Is  Marriage  a  Contract? 121 

"Hanging  a  Woman" 128 

Religion    135 

The  Economic  Independence  of  Woman 149 

Liberty  and  the  Revolution  the  Allies  of  Women 154 

Conclusion  162 

Postscript  167 

PART  II. 

Luise  Meyen  on  Men  and  Women — 

The  Rights  and  Condition  of  Women 181 

Men   195 

Women    214 

The  Convention  of  German  Women  in  Frauenstadt.  227 

Concerning  Womanhood  (a  lecture,  1873) 346 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN  AND 
THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS. 


AN  ADDRESS  TO  AN  UNKNOWN  LADY 
READER. 

Notwithstanding  all  reactionary  precautions, 
there  is  a  spirit  of  liberty  breathing  through  the 
world  that  lifts  the  veil  from  all  lies  and  the  roofs 
from  all  dungeons  in  order  to  show  mankind  how 
much  truth  it  has  failed  to  grasp,  and  how  much 
justice  it  has  crushed.  It  is  a  sad  task  to  accom- 
pany this  spirit  on  its  flight  and  to  note  the  count- 
less aberrations  of  mankind ;  but  it  is  an  impera- 
tive duty  to  report  what  has  been  observed,  and 
to  participate  in  the  reformation  of  this  degenerate 
world. 

Not  only  from  the  dungeons  of  famous  martyred 
men,  also  from  the  chambers  of  nameless  mar- 
tyred women  time  has  removed  the  covering  roof. 
More  than  one-half  of  your  sex  consists  of  mar- 
tyrs, aye,  the  history  of  your  sex  is  one  continu- 


2  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

ous  story  of  martyrs.  And  while  the  oppressed 
of  the  stronger  sex  can  read  their  sufferings  in 
the  fugitive  history  of  states  and  nations,  the 
sufferings  of  women  find  a  place  only  in  the  long 
history  of  mankind. 

This  is  beginning  to  be  recognized,  and  among 
women  themselves  champions  have  at  last  arisen 
who  demand  that  the  age  of  slavery  and  suffering 
shall  give  place  to  an  age  of  liberty  and  rights. 
Especially  in  America,  the  new  Amazons  who  seek 
to  humanize  men,  as  those  of  history  sought  to  slay 
them,  form  a  very  respectable  phalanx. 

And  here,  too,  it  is  where  a  suitable  battle-field 
is  open  to  them,  and  where  it  is  also  possible  to 
unite  this  battle-field  with  the  arena  of  men. 
Especially  in  America,  where  so  many  questions 
are  already  solved  which  in  Europe  still  call  for 
the  exertion  of  all  foi«ces,  it  is  the  part  of  men  to 
occupy  themselves  with  the  important  question 
of  woman's  emancipation;  here  more  than  else- 
where men  of  truly  democratic  spirit  ought  to 
make  it  their  task  to  bring  the  discussion  on  this 
interesting  and  much-derided  theme  to  a  conclu- 
sion. It  is  a  glaring  anomaly  to  rejoice  over  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves  and  to  treat  the  eman- 
cipation of  woman  with  ridicule. 

I  venture  the  attempt  of  contributing  my  mite 
to  the  proposed  work.  In  so  doing  I  shall  strive 
to  be  as  clear,  as  radical,  as  brief,  as  just,  but  also 
as  frank,  as  possible.     In  any  case,  dear  reader,  I 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  3 

am  convinced  that  I  have  some  new  points  of  view- 
to  offer  which  deserve  your  attention. 

But  whoever  you  may  be,  in  giving  your  atten- 
tion to  these  pages  may  you  be  prevailed  upon  to 
publicly  express  your  opinion  on  a  common  and 
important  matter!  But  frankly,  truthfully,  and 
without  reserve,  as  will  be  done  here.  False 
modesty  is  not  only  a  weakness ;  it  is  also  a  fault, 
because  it  throws  a  suspicion  on  what  it  attempts 
to  conceal.  So  long  as  we  still  shrink  from  speak- 
ing about  human  matters  in  a  human  manner  we 
have  not  yet  developed  into  true  men  and  women ; 
so  long  as  we  still  play  the  hypocrite  out  of  sheer 
"  morality  "  we  have  not  yet  a  conception  of  true 
morality ;  so  long  as  we  still  seek  for  culture  in 
the  perversion  of  human  nature  we  have  no  rea- 
son to  boast  of  our  culture.  But  in  regard  to 
the  question  of  rights  now  under  consideration, 
a  radical  straightforward  examination  of  the  rela- 
tions of  the  two  sexes  to  each  other  is  an  essential 
requisite  for  its  solution. 

There  are  three  rocks  upon  which  the  truthful- 
ness of  the  world,  especially  of  the  masculine 
world,  is  wont  to  come  to  grief  and  to  change 
into  the  most  intolerable  and  contemptible  hypoc- 
risy; the  Revolution,  Religion,  and  Love.  Thou- 
sands •  want  the  revolution  and  feign  legality; 
thousands  are  without  religion  and  go  to  church  ; 
thousands  seek  the  clandestine  satisfaction  of 
their  sexual  desires,  while  outwardly  they  mani- 


4  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

fest  the  most  studied  indifference  towards  the 
feminine  sex.  You  will  not  have  to  accuse  the 
author  of  these  pages  of  hypocrisy.  He  has  given 
complete  expression  to  his  opinions  regarding  the 
revolution ;  he  has  done  so  regarding  religion  ; 
and  he  is  now  doing  so  regarding  the  two  sexes. 
Give  him  your  support  by  reciprocating  his  frank- 
ness, help  him  to  examine  the  nature  and  the 
needs  of  both  sexes,  in  order  thereby  to  establish 
the  claims  which  your  sex  has  to  make.  You  will 
share  with  me  the  satisfaction  that  he  who  speaks 
his  convictions  openly  and  completely  before  all 
the  world,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  world,  not  only 
acts  more  nobly,  but  also  more  successfully,  than 
all  the  reserve  of  prudence  and  all  the  hypocrisy 
of  cowardice  are  able  to  act. 

The  object  to  be  gained  here  is  not  only  to 
purify  humanity  and  the  sense  of  justice  from  the 
dross  of  a  false  morality  and  vulgar  prejudice ;  nor 
is  our  task  limited  to  the  rescue  of  love  and  mar- 
riage, which  are  in  danger  of  perishing  entirely  in 
this  venal  and  pious  world ;  it  is  at  the  same  time 
also  necessary  to  open  up  to  your  sex  a  perspec- 
tive view  of  the  position  which  the  era  of  liberty, 
towards  which  our  development  is  tending,  will 
assign  to  it  in  society.  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
right,  the  happiness,  and  the  lot  of  woman  is  still 
more  dependent  on  the  attainment  of  complete 
liberty  than  that  of  man,  who  at  least  finds  a 
partial  compensation  for  liberty  in  the  struggle 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  5 

for  it,  and  that  the  relation  of  the  two  sexes 
to  each  other  can  reach  its  true  form  only  at 
the  summit  of  political  development  from  which 
we  are  still  far  enough  removed,  even  in  North 
America. 


THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 


HISTORICAL  REVIEW  OF  THE  LEGAL 
POSITION  OF  WOMEN. 

As  a  rule  history  considers  women  only  in  so 
far  as  they  occasionally  exert  an  apparent  influ- 
ence upon  the  history  of  men.  The  feminine  half 
of  humanity  is  usually  overlooked  like  a  super- 
fluous appendage.  The  women  are  weak,  they 
are  silent,  they  patiently  suffer,  they  do  not  rebel, 
and  that  is  sufficient  to  expose  them  to  disregard, 
to  make  them  historically  irresponsible.  It  would 
be  of  great  interest  to  write  a  history  from  a 
radical  point  of  view  of  the  position  which  women 
have  occupied  among  the  different  nations  and  in 
different  ages  in  a  social,  political,  and  literary 
respect.  I  would  undertake  to  do  this  work  if  I 
were  sufficiently  well  read,  and  if  the  necessary 
material  were  not  wanting  to  me  as  well  as  the 
leisure  to  make  exhaustive  use  of  the  latter.  I 
shall  therefore  content  myself  with  giving  from 
scant  notes  and  recollections  a  brief  survey,  in 
order  at  least  to  uphold  the  leading  idea  that  the 
position  of  women,  dependent  upon  the  general 
state  of  civilization  and  liberty  of  a  people,  can 
become  an  entirely  just  and  honorable  one  only  in 
that  distant  future  in  which  the  subordination  of 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  7 

the  right  of  brutal  strength  to  the  right  of  humane 
thought  will  have  become  a  reality. 

In  the  historical  retrospect,  in  which  we  cannot 
always  proceed  chronologically,  but  merely  ac- 
cording to  the  stages  of  civilization  of  various 
nations,  we  begin  with  the  savage.  It  will  be  im- 
material for  the  purpose  whether  we  take  exam- 
ples of  the  Africa  of  to-day,  or  whether  we  trace 
the  oldest  nations  of  history  back  to  their  savage 
state.  Savages  are  very  much  alike  everywhere, 
and  that  all  nations  have  at  one  time  been  in  the 
savage  state  even  those  do  not  doubt  who  believe 
that  man  has  been  placed  ready  made  into  the 
world  by  a  "God,"  the  sum  of  all  wisdom  and 
civilization.  To  the  savage  physical  strength  is 
synonymous  with  right,  and  since  the  man  has  by 
nature  more  physical  strength  and  aggressive 
passion  than  woman,  the  submission  of  the  latter 
to  the  former  is  self  evident.  (Among  animals 
nature  seems  to  have  equalized  this  relation  some- 
what, as  the  females  of  some  species  are  larger 
than  the  males.)  The  savage  associates  the 
woman  with  himself  because  his  sexual  needs  re- 
quire her,  and  he  controls  her  because  he  is  the 
stronger.  This  control  is  carried  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  body  of  the  woman  is  actually 
treated  as  a  piece  of  furniture,  and  in  some  places 
is  even  guarded  against  foreign  touch  by  some 
barbaric  tailoring.  With  most  savages  the  woman, 
besides  being  a  concubine,  is  at  the  same  time  the 


8  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

slave  and  beast  of  burden  of  the  man.  Polygamy 
is  likewise  in  accordance  with  this  state  of  bar- 
barity ;  polyandry,*  on  the  other  hand,  is  found 
rarely, — rather  as  a  consequence  of  the  presump- 
tion of  the  stronger,  adultery  is  almost  everywhere 
treated  as  a  crime  only  on  the  part  of  women,  while 
masculine  adultery  does  not  exist  at  all.  But  in 
spite  of  polygamy  a  selection  is  to  be  observed 
even  among  savages,  a  distinction  of  and  tem- 
porary union  with  a  single  person.  Rousseau,  it 
is  true,  disputes  this  by  maintaining  that  among 
savages  every  woman  had  the  same  value ;  it  ca-n 
be  shown,  however,  by  facts  as  well  as  by  a  priori 
demonstration  that  even  the  rudest  savage  has  an 
eye  and  discrimination  for  superiority  and  quali- 
ties suitable  to  him  in  this  or  that  woman,  and 
feels  the  need  of  uniting  himself  more  closely  with 
the  one  he  prefers.  The  analogy  of  animals  also 
points  that  way,  as  there  is  among  many  animals 
an  entirely  exclusive  conjugal  relation  at  least 
during  the  breeding  period.  Why  special  stress 
is  laid  on  these  facts  will  become  clear  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  marriage. 

The  savage  state  is  followed  by  the  semi-civil- 
ized period,  in  which  man  settles  down  and  forms 
a  family  life,  and  in  accordance  with  it  the  woman 

*  It  is  said  to  have  existed  for  a  time  among  the  ancient 
Medes,  and  at  the  present  day  is  to  be  found  only  on  the  coast 
of  Ma'abar  and  at  the  Himalayas,  where  it  is  kept  up  chiefly 
on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  supporting  children. 


AND    THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  9 

plays  the  part  of  a  member  of  the  family,  but  of 
course  without  any  independence  whatever.  On 
the  contrary,  in  spite  of  her  position  in  the  family, 
she  is  deprived  of  all  liberty,  confined  in  a  harem, 
and  jealously  watched.  She  exchanges  open 
slavery  for  secret  slavery ;  she  remains  now  as 
before  the  tool  of  the  man,  only  according  to 
more  definite  rules  and  laws  of  external  etiquette. 
In  the  harem  the  preference  of  individuals,  already 
apparent  among  savages,  becomes  more  strongly 
marked,  although  here  also  it  does  not  lead  to  a 
real  monogamic  union.  This  state  of  things  is, 
however,  specifically  oriental.  But  the  degrada- 
tion of  women  in  the  orient  was  so  manifold  that 
their  social  position  cannot  be  designated  by  one 
word.  With  the  Babylonians  the  marriageable 
maidens  were  taken  to  the  market,  examined  by 
the  men  like  any  other  ware,  and  bid  for.  It  was 
also  customary  in  the  temple  of  Mylitta  that 
every  woman  must  extend  her  favors  to  strangers 
for  money,  which  went  into  the  pockets  of  the 
priests.  Zoroaster  abolished  polygamy  among 
the  Persians  after  the  institution  of  the  harem 
had  reached  its  highest  development.  It  is  well 
known  that  polygamy  and  traffic  with  women 
existed  also  among  the  Jews.  The  Mosaic  price 
for  a  pretty  woman  was  about  five  dollars.  If  the 
man  wished  to  get  rid  of  the  woman  he  threw  her 
out  of  the  house. 

In  the  next  stage  we  find  the  woman  as  inde- 


10  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

pendent  housewife,  with  more  liberty  of  action, 
and  more  highly  respected.  The  Homeric  de- 
scriptions show  this  stage  in  its  best  light.  The 
woman  is  no  longer  under  surveillance,  as  in  the 
harem,  where  the  man  visits  her  when  it  suits  his 
pleasure  and  fancy,  but  she  has  also  free  access  to 
the  man.  She  has  control  of  the  department  of 
the  interior,  is  the  hostess  of  the  house,  and  does 
the  honors  in  receiving  guests.  But  in  spite  of 
this  more  favored  position,  the  rights  which  are 
granted  woman  are  rooted  in  the  interests 
and  the  will  of  the  man,  not  in  a  true  ethical 
recognition.  The  dependence  of  women  was,  on 
the  contrary,  still  so  great  in  this  stage  that  the 
sons  had  the  power  to  remarry  their  mothers  to 
whomsoever  they  pleased  ;  men  could  keep  concu- 
bines as  they  liked,  etc. 

A  further  development  marks  the  transition  of 
private  control  of  woman  to  public  or  political 
control  of  her.  In  this  respect  the  Spartans  took 
the  lead  with  a  truly  classical  despotism.  With 
them  every  regard  for  nature,  for  humanity,  for 
morality,  for  liberty  disappeared  before  the  regard 
for  that  State  which  Lycurgus  seems  to  have  called 
to  life  in  order  to  show  that  mankind  could  fur- 
nish an  energetic  mind  with  the  material  for  the 
realization  of  every  extravagance.  Women  served 
the  Spartans  only  for  the  bearing  of  children,  of 
young  Spartans.  If  children  could  be  brought 
into  the  world  by  a  mill  or  some  other  kind  of 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  II 

machine,  the  Spartans  would  have  abolished 
women,  and  introduced  in  their  place  State  child 
factories.  According  to  the  purely  political  or 
patriotic  purpose,  which  called  for  merely  warlike 
manhood  and  coarse  republican  insensibility,  the 
women  received  a  thoroughly  masculine  training, 
and  in  order  to  guard  them  against  the  danger  of 
effeminating  the  men  and  of  occupying  them  too 
much  by  their  charms,  they  were  trained  after 
their  marriage  for  the  manufacture  of  wool,  and 
treated  like  factory  implements.  Woman,  as 
such,  did  not  exist  in  Sparta ;  her  femininity  was 
rather  a  fault,  and  this  fault  was  corrected  through 
barbarity.  Marriage  proper  was  unknown  to  the 
Spartans.  The  men  could  visit  the  women  only 
for  a  few  minutes  ;  the  object  was  merely  to  beget 
children.  Weak  or  old  men,  by  virtue  of  their 
right  of  control  over  their  wives,  brought  them 
good  breeders,  and  if  any  one  was  especially 
pleased  with  a  woman  he  would  ask,  not  her,  but 
her  husband,  for  the  permission  to  beget  a  "  noble 
child  "  with  her — all  this  was  done  for  State  pur- 
poses, which  had  crowded  out  every  other  consid- 
eration, and  would  not  allow  the  question  of  the 
existence  of  an  independent  inclination  on  the 
part  of  woman  to  be  raised  at  all. 

The  Spartans  furnish  the  classic  example  of  that 
error  which  sacrifices  to  the  enthusiasm  for  a 
political  end,  the  end  of  all  political  endeavor, 
namely  humanity,  bec?'\se  they  neglected  to  take 


12  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

human  nature  into  their  council.  As  long  as  the 
world  stands  women  have  been  the  victims  of  this 
error  on  the  one  side,  and  of  Sultanic  brutality  on 
the  other,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  have 
more  reason  to  complain  of  the  Sultans  or  of  the 
Spartans. 

The  treatment  of  women  took  on  a  milder  and 
more  humane  form  with  the  more  civilized  and 
more  aesthetical  Athenians.  But  a  real  appre- 
ciation of  woman  was  unknown  even  among  that 
people  who  adored  the  ideal  of  the  fair  sex  in  the 
goddess  of  love,  who  had  the  most  humane  con- 
ception of  love  among  all  the  nations,  whose 
mythology  developed  into  the  most  beautiful  and 
most  attractive  romances  of  love,  and  who  often 
depicted  in  their  poetry  the  feminine  excellences 
with  the  clearest  perception.  Also  among  the 
Athenians  the  State  was  in  a  certain  sense  the 
despot ;  the  State  which  received  especial  weight 
by  contrast  with  foreign  foes,  was  the  worldly 
deity  to  which  everything  was  sacrificed  except 
its  priests,  and  these  priests  were,  of  course,  the 
men,  the  women  were  the  victims.  .  The  Athenians 
also  regarded  the  State  as  an  end,  not  as  means  to 
an  end ;  they  made  it  an  object  of  religion  rather 
than  the  mere  framework  of  the  body  social. 
This  State,  this  republic,  was  moreover  continu- 
ally called  into  question,  now  by  native,  now  by 
foreign  tyrants.  But  who  was  to  save  the  State, 
in  whose  hands  was  placed  its  safety?     In  the 


AND    THE    SEX  (TAT.    RELATIONS.  I  3 

hands  of  those  whom  nature  had  endowed  with 
the  requisite  strength,  the  warlike  passion.  Who 
were  they?  The  men!  Consequently — women 
were  less  able,  less  privileged,  less  worthy  than 
men.  This  sort  of  logic  develops  very  naturally 
in  practice,  even  if  it  is  not  expressly  established, 
and  the  "  right  of  the  stronger "  is  the  whole 
secret  of  it. 

True  enough,  women  who  distinguished  them- 
selves by  their  intellect  or  virtue  were  highly 
respected  among  the  Athenians,  and  the  appre- 
ciation of  the  most  excellent  of  men  was  assured 
them,  But  the  Aspasias  were  not  numerous,  even 
in  Athens,  and  such  exceptions  as  social  life 
offered  did  not  mitigate  the  unfavorable  posi- 
tion in  which  the  law  and  public  opinion  placed 
woman.  Already  the  classification  which  was 
made  of  them  (as  partly  also  of  men)  can  give  an 
idea  of  how  dependent  and  devoid  of  rights  they 
were.  They  consisted,  as  we  know,  of  three  classes, 
the  slaves,  the  freed  women  (out  of  which  class 
the  courtesans  generally  were  recruited),  and  the 
free  born  Athenian  ladies.  It  is  self-evident  that 
the  first  two  classes  occupied  a  subordinate  posi- 
tion also  with  regard  to  the  last  class.  But  with 
regard  to  the  men  even  these  free  born  ladies 
were  semi-slaves.  The  laws  of  Solon  furnish  the 
best  estimate  of  their  position.  They  acknowledge 
neither  any  right  nor  any  inclination  on  the  part 
of  the  woman.     Fathers,  brothers,  and  guardians 


14  '^HE  RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

could  promise  their  daughters,  sisters,  and  wards 
to  whom  they  pleased.  The  relatives  of  rich 
heiresses  had  a  legal  right  to  ask  them  in  mar- 
riage, in  order  that  the  riches  might  remain  in  the 
family.  If  a  man  died  childless,  his  nearest  rela- 
tives were  entitled  to  his  property.  Women, 
daughters  and  sisters,  who  were  discovered  in  a 
dishonorable  act,  could  be  sold  as  slaves  by  their 
fathers  and  brothers.  Irregularities  on  the  part 
of  men  were,  by  the  way,  not  considered  as 
adultery.  Solon  says:  "  Take  a  single  legitimate, 
free  born  daughter  for  your  wife,  in  order  to  beget 
children."  With  this  he  exhausted  his  whfcle  con- 
ception of  marriage  and  conjugal  morality.  He 
might  have  said:  "According  to  our  laws  and 
ideas,  the  begetting  of  legitimate  children  is 
limited  to  the  marriage  relation  between  the 
man  and  the  free  born  woman  ;  aside  from  this, 
however,  the  man  can  keep  as  many  concubines 
as  he  likes.  But  the  woman  would  have  to  pay 
for  any  outside  love  affair  with  her  liberty  or  her 
life." 

It  was  also  customary  for  a  time,  among  the 
Athenians,  to  lend  their  wives.  Thus  even  Soc- 
rates is  said  to  have  lent  his  Xantippe  to  Alki- 
biades,  for  which,  indeed,  according  to  the  reports 
that  are  current  about  this  lady,  he  may  not  have 
had  need  of  great  self-denial. 

These,  with  regard  to  women,  truly  barbaric 
Solonic  laws  originated  for  the  most  part  in  patri- 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  1 5 

archal  conceptions.  According  to  these,  among 
other  things,  marriages  were  allowed  inside  the 
family,  in  case  they  were  sanctioned  or  ordered 
by  the  patriarch  ;  and  the  power  of  the  head  of  the 
family  was  so  great  that  the  father  could  decide 
over  the  life  or  death  of  his  new-born  children,  or 
could  deprive  them  completely  of  all  family  rights. 

It  is  of  interest  to  take  note  here  of  the  view  the 
Greek  writers  held  of  women  and  their  position, 
as  well  as  of  marriage.  I  will,  therefore,  inter- 
pose a  few  significant  passages,  not  indeed  from 
the  poets,  but  from  political  and  philosophical 
prose  writers. 

Demosthenes  says  very  briefly  and  with  a  true 
Solonic  spirit:  "The  married  woman  is  an  instru- 
ment for  the  procreation  of  legitimate  children 
and  the  management  of  the  household."  The 
cynical,  statesmanlike  disdain  to  which  the  great- 
est orator  gives  utterance  in  these  words  throws  a 
very  clear  light  on  the  then  existing  conceptions 
of  the  rights  and  dignity  of  woman.  Demos- 
thenes stands  on  a  level  with  Diogenes,  who  called 
woman  a  necessary  evil. 

Thucydides  is  of  the  opinion  that  "  those  wives 
deserve  the  highest  praise  of  whom  neither  good 
nor  bad  is  spoken  outside  of  the  house  " — a  domes- 
tic plant,  so  to  speak,  a  vegetating  stay-at-home, 
who  will  serve  her  husband  as  an  instrument  as 
well  as  possible,  but  is  not  to  concern  herself  about 
anything  else.     This  sentiment  of  Thucydides  has 


1 6  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

often  since  been  echoed,  and  those  who  did  so 
have  entirely  overlooked  that  they  repeated  in 
one  word  a  stupidity  and  a  barbarity. 

Xenophon  thinks  rather  humanely  of  women, 
but  still  they  appear  to  him  as  beings  whom  men, 
out  of  regard  or  pity,  must  take  into  their  care. 
He  thus  expressed  his  opinion  of  their  inferiority 
in  his  "  Symposium  ":  "  Zeus  has  left  the  women 
whom  he  had  loved  behind  him  in  the  class  of  the 
mortals,  but  the  men  to  whom  he  was  devoted  he 
exalted  among  the  gods."  Perhaps  this  proof 
admits  of  a  refutation  by  the  gallantry  that  it  was 
no  longer  necessary  to  promote  lovable  women 
among  the  gods. 

Aristoteles  has  a  higher  opinion  of  woman  than 
Xenophon.  He  says  among  other  things  :  "The 
ruling  intelligence  is  to  be  attributed  to  man  as 
the  leader.  All  the  other  virtues  are  common  to 
both  sexes.  Woman  is  subordinate  to  man,  but 
still  free,  and  the  right  to  give  good  counsel  (!) 
cannot  be  denied  her.  She  furnishes  the  material 
which  man  utilizes." 

11  Woman  is  not  at  all  to  be  regarded  as  a  means 
for  the  furtherance  of  man's  selfish  ends." 

'■  Husband  and  wife  ought  to  work  together  for 
their  support.  They  go  hand  in  hand,  they  both 
accumulate  property,  their  union  rests  on  com- 
mon benefits  and  pleasures." 

Aristoteles  demands  that  the  husband  should 
stake  his  possessions  and  his  life  in  the  defence  of 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  1 7 

his  wife,  and  should  stand  by  her  faithfully  and 
firmly  unto  death.  With  regard  to  chastity  he 
imposes  the  same  obligation  on  the  husband  as  on 
the  wife. 

Most  of  all,  Plato  occupied  himself  with  woman. 
He  brings  forth  much  that  is  contradictory  and 
extravagant.  The  most  important  of  that  which 
comes  under  consideration  here  is  condensed  in 
the  following,  which  occasionally  gives  evidence 
of  so  coarse  a  conception  of  the  sexual  relations 
that  it  is  hard  to  understand  how  the  poetical 
Plato  could  have  come  by  it. 

According  to  him,  man  and  woman  share  alike 
in  the  highest  principle,  reason,  but  the  powers 
and  capacities  under  the  control  of  reason  are 
physically  as  well  as  psychically  weaker  in  woman, 
and  she  is  therefore  less  able  to  approach  perfec- 
tion, which  is  the  result  of  the  harmony  of  all 
forces.  (The  logic  of  this  proof  can  perhaps  be 
made  plain  by  the  following  example.  The  hawk 
and  the  dove  are  both  equally  intelligent,  but  the 
beak  and  the  claws  of  the  dove  are  much  weaker 
than  those  of  the  hawk.  It  follows  that  the  dove 
is  less  perfect  as  a  dove  than  the  hawk  is  as  a 
hawk.)  It  is  clear  that  Plato  does  not  apply  the 
human  or  feminine  standard  to  the  qualities  of 
woman,  but  the  masculine,  a  senseless  presump- 
tion which  even  to-day  inspires  the  judgment  of 
most  men.  Plato's  point  of  view  is  shown  even 
still  more  plainly  in  the  fancy  (in  the  "  Phaedrus") 


1 8  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

that  men  who  have  led  a  dissolute  life  are  changed 
into  women  after  death — a  poor  compliment  to  the 
sex  of  whom  Goethe  says  :  "  The  eternal  womanly 
draws  us  on." 

In  the  "  Republic,"  moreover,  Plato  says : 
"  Women  are  physically  somewhat  weaker  than 
men,  but  they  are  otherwise  equally  adapted  to 
all  occupations.  In  order  that  they  may  become 
able  to  use  all  their  faculties  they  must  receive  the 
same  education  as  boys,  join  in  the  common  exer- 
cises, not  modestly  cover  up  their  bodies,  etc.,  etc. 
I  demand  the  same  end  and  aim  for  women  as  for 
men."  (It  remains  only  for  Plato  to  declare  it  to  be 
the  end  and  aim  of  woman  to  become  a  man.  Per- 
haps it  is  he  who  has  brought  about  the  mistaken 
view  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  emancipatiow  of 
woman  to  deny  femininity  and  to  imitate  men.) 
For  the  rest,  women  must  be  entirely  common 
property,  no  woman  can  belong  to  a  single  indi- 
vidual. (Thus  women  are  the  absolute  property 
of  the  men.)  Moreover,  no  son  is  allowed  to 
know  a  particular  father.  All  must  dine  together 
publicly  and  live  together.  The  State — and  that 
is  the  non  plus  ultra  of  brutality — officially  brings 
about  the  pairing  of  such  persons  as  it  deems 
the  most  fit  for  the  procreation  of  children. 
When  generation  has  taken  place  they  separate 
again  (a  regular  institution  of  stirpiculture).  The 
children  are  reared  by  the  State  without  being 
known  by  their  mothers,  so  that  these  sometimes 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  1$ 

nurse  their  own,  sometimes  the  children  of  others 
in  the  common  nursery.  In  the  "  Republic  "  of 
Plato  there  is  no  private  property  and  no  private 
interest.  He  is  the  grandsire  of  the  communists. 
In  another  place  he  advocates  different  principles. 

The  above  extracts  show  that  even  the  most 
excellent  writers  of  the  most  humane  people  of 
history  have  not  attained  to  an  entirely  worthy 
conception,  to  an  entirely  free  view,  and  to  com* 
plete  justice  with  regard  to  the  nature  and  posi- 
tion of  woman.  Even  Aristotle,  who,  among  all, 
has  laid  down  the  most  worthy  principles,  reaches, 
as  it  were,  only  a  constitutional  point  of  view, 
from  which  he  concedes  to  woman  an  "advisory" 
counsel  to  governing  man  and  a  share  in  the 
"  property,"  without  even  thinking  of  such  a  thing 
as  an  independent  right  for  her.  She  is  consid- 
ered everywhere  only  as  the  property  or  append- 
age of  man,  nowhere  as  a  sovereign  being.  They 
all  judge  woman  only  from  the  standpoint  of 
men,  statesmen,  Greeks,  not  as  human  beings. 
But  woman  is  the  genuine  representative  of  the 
purely  human  which  must  not  be  modified  by 
State  relations  and  nationalities. 

When  Greek  liberty  had  vanished,  the  regard 
for  women  and  the  taste  for  "  adoring  "  them  in- 
creased. But  this  adoration  was  false,  and  a 
product  of  degenerate  conditions.  Men  had  no 
longer  their  former  importance,  consequently 
women  came  to   be   more  equal  to  them ;    men 


20  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

were  now  no  longer  occupied  as  much  with  the 
State,  consequently  they  could  devote  themselves 
more  to  women  ;  men  were  now  deprived  of  their 
public  calling,  consequently  they  looked  for  com- 
pensation in  the  domestic  world.  Thus  also  as 
playthings  of  the  courts  and  favorites  of  despots, 
women  are  offered  rich  opportunities  in  mon- 
archies to  achieve  a  false  importance  through 
intrigues  and  in  the  relation  of  mistresses.  Upon 
them  falls  the  favor  of  the  despot,  and  from  them 
glory  and  favors  radiate  downwards.  Thus  the 
exaltation  of  women  naturally  has  for  its  opposite 
pole  the  humiliation  of  men,  and  these,  in  such 
humiliation,  as  naturally  transform  their  former 
contempt  of  women  into  that  extravagant  love- 
cult  and  senseless  gallantry  which  spread  from 
Alexandria  over  the  Grecian  world. 

From  the  Greeks  we  proceed  to  the  Romans. 
These  treated  women  in  a  truly  Spartan  manner, 
only  with  a  more  glaring  stamp  of  severity  and 
brutality,  in  accordance  with  their  severe  char- 
acter. In  the  most  flourishing  time  of  the  Roman 
republic  woman  was  little  more  than  the  slave  of 
man.*     She  was  completely  his  property ;  he  ac- 

*  It  was  indeed  customary  at  times  that  the  bride  had  to  say 
upon  entering  the  house  of  her  husband  :  ubi  tu  es  cajus,  ego 
caja  sum  (that  is,  Where  you  are  master  I  am  mistress);  but 
this  custom  seems  to  have  had  merely  the  force  of  a  gallantry. 
Its  very  existence,  that  is,  the  necessity  for  it,  seems  to  indicate 
a  presumption  of  the  very  opposite  of  that  which  these  words 
would  lead  us  to  believe. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  21 

quired  her  through  actual  purchase  or  prescrip- 
tion. Whatever  she  had  or  earned  belonged  to 
him.  He  could  sit  in  family  court  over  her,  and 
even  punish  her  with  death. 

Cato,  the  elder,  expresses  his  respect  for  the 
fair  sex  in  these  words :  "  If  every  head  of  a 
family  would  strive  to  keep  his  wife  in  thorough 
subjection  according  to  the  example  of  his  ances- 
tors, we  should  have  less  trouble  publicly  with  the 
entire  sex." 

Among  the  Romans  the  adulteress  could  be 
killed  on  the  spot  by  her  husband  ;  on  the  part 
of  the  man  adultery  was  no  crime.  Later,  how- 
ever, this  was  changed.  Under  Augustus  the 
adultery  of  the  man  was  punished,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  woman.  It  suited  the  empire  in  a  certain 
sense  to  take  the  side  of  woman.  It  may  also 
have  been  expected  that  severity  toward  the 
degenerate  men  might  prove  a  means  of  check- 
ing the  impending  immorality. 

Upon  the  era  of  the  republic  followed  the  era 
of  the  emperors  and  of  immorality,  perhaps  the 
greatest  that  ever  existed.  Men  now  sought 
compensation  for  their  lost  liberties  and  for  their 
interrupted  political  life  in  all  manner  of  debauch- 
eries, in  which  the  emperors  took  the  lead  from 
sheer  ennui.  For  debaucheries,  however,  women 
are  necessary,  and  what  is  necessary  is  tolerated. 
The  importance  to  which  women  attain  in  eras  of 
immorality  can  be  as  little  satisfaction  to  them  as 


22  THE   RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

that  which  they  are  accustomed  to  have  as  play- 
things of  the  courts.  In  the  age  of  the  Roman 
emperors,  when  men  were  enervated,  the  impor- 
tance of  woman  naturally  had  to  rise.  A  number 
of  excellent  ladies  played  important  roles  at  courts 
and  ruled  the  nations  through  debauched  despots. 
But  this  contained  no  indemnification  for  the  dis- 
ability of  the  sex,  and  that  once  there  has  been  a 
Julie,  a  Messalina,  an  Agrippina,  a  Poppaea,  a 
Faustina,  etc.,  can  accrue  as  little  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  feminine  sex  as  the  fact  that  later 
times  have  produced  a  Catherine,  a  Pompadour, 
a  DuBarry,  a  Lola,  etc. 

The  reaction  against  the  extravagancies  of  im- 
morality and  sensual  debauchery  under  the  Roman 
emperors  was  caused  by  Christianity,  by  the  reli- 
gion of  the  man  who  was  not  begotten  by  any 
man,  was  born  of  a  virgin,  and  is  said  never  to 
have  associated  with  any  woman.  A  religion 
which  referred  mankind  from  the  living  world  to 
the  dead  hereafter,  which  destroyed  the  value  of 
earthly  things,  i.e.,  of  reality,  and  caused  human- 
ity to  abandon  itself  to  spiritualistic  phantasies 
and  reveries,  had  to  put  spirituality  in  place  of 
sensuality,  asceticism  in  place  of  voluptuousness, 
and  unnatural  restraint  in  place  of  dissoluteness. 
Opposing  one  extreme  to  another,  Christianity 
would  make  nonsense  into  sense,  and  a  virtue  of 
the  violation  of  nature.  If  the  Romans  were  im- 
moral through  intemperance,  the  Christians  were 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  2$ 

immoral  through  abstinence.  As  regards  women 
in  particular,  the  era  of  hypocrisy,  of  the  suppres- 
sion and  false  conception  of  their  nature,  was 
already  announced  in  the  story  of  the  woman  who 
bore  a  son  without  the  intervention  of  a  man,  and 
in  which  the  functions  of  the  male  sex  are  trans- 
ferred to  doves  and  ghosts.  Christianity,  which 
the  priests  have  made  into  a  paragon  of  abnormity 
and  hypocrisy,  is  a  real  war-sermon  against  the 
recognition  of  the  feminine  sex,  for  that  which 
makes  woman  truly  woman  Christianity  regards 
for  the  most  part  with  disgust.  Even  though 
Christ  pardoned  adulteresses  and  Magdalens,  the 
story  of  his  origin,  his  abstinence  morality,  his 
promises  of  heaven,  and  the  consequences  of 
Mosaic  barbarism  which  permeate  Christianity 
(it  is  disgusting  to  treat  these  things  at  large*), 
have  prepared  a  lot  for  woman  which  can  only  be 
traced  to  a  suppression  of  nature,  want  of  sense, 
and  barbarity. 

These  monstrous  teachings,  which  in  the  first 
place  caused  men  to  shun  woman,  logically  led  to 
her  persecution  and  maltreatment  during  the  rise 
of  barbarism  in  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  Council 
of  Macon  (in  the  sixth  century)  a  long  dispute 

*  Whoever  reads  the  Old  Testament  as  a  believing  Christian, 
and  notes  how  woman  was  created  from  the  rib  of  man,  will 
easily  learn  to  look  upon  her  not  only  as  the  supplement,  but 
also  as  the  property,  of  man.  What  man  would  not  consider 
himself  as  having  a  claim  upon  the  product  of  his  rib? 


24  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

took  place  (in  spite  of  Adam's  rib)  whether  wom- 
en were  human  beings.  This  may  give  an  idea  of 
the  then  prevailing  Christian  view  and  humane 
feeling.  Although  the  humanity  of  women  was 
thus  called  into  doubt,  it  came  gradually  to  be 
recognized  in  secret  with  so  much  zeal,  that  in 
spite  of  Christianity,  the  immorality  of  the  tenth 
and  eleventh  centuries  reached  a  degree  far  ex- 
ceeding that  of  the  Roman  emperors,  perhaps  for 
the  very  reason  that  it  was  characterized  alike  by 
the  most  disgusting  hypocrisy  and  the  most  pious 
vulgarity.  However  eagerly  they  were  sought 
for,  women  were,  in  Christian  delicacy  and  appre- 
hension, invested  with  something  unclean  and  un- 
holy ;  the  unfortunate  ones  were  even  deprived  the 
pleasure  of  touching  the  altar-cloth,  and  it  was 
imposed  upon  them  as  a  duty  to  wear  gloves  at 
communion.  Because  they  could  not  dispense 
with  them,  they  avenged  themselves  for  the  sake 
of  Christianity  by  degrading  them.  Husbands 
were  permitted  by  law  to  beat  their  wives  and 
even  to  inflict  wounds  on  them,  provided  they  did 
not  disable  or  maim  them  thereby.  The  father 
could  chastise  his  daughter  even  after  her  mar- 
riage. In  the  city  of  Bourbon  a  husband  could 
with  impunity  kill  his  wife  if  he  only  swore  that 
he  was  heartily  sorry  for  it — all  this  in  consequence 
of  the  humane  ideas  which  the  unnatural  doctrine 
had  caused  that  preached  an  unnatural  universal 
love  of  mankind,  while  it   made  a  crime  of  the 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  2$ 

natural  love  of  the  sexes.  The  horrors  to  which 
women  were  subjected  in  monasteries,  priests' 
brothels,  and  courts  of  inquisition  we  will  entirely 
omit.*  On  the  other  hand,  we  shall  attach  no  im- 
portance to  the  fact  that  at  certain  periods  of  the 
Middle  Ages  single  women  acquired  distinction 
as  artists,  authors,  etc.  They  acquired  it,  so  to 
speak,  merely  as  a  reflex  of  monastic  life.  They 
were  regarded  as  nuns,  not  as  women. 

After  Christian  contempt  and  abuse  of  women 
had  reached  the  extreme,  it  began  in  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries  to  retrace  its  steps  to  the 
other  extreme,  to  glorify  them  and  make  them 
objects  of  idolatry.  That  brings  us  to  the  time 
of  those  noble  knights  who  as  highway  robbers 
at  one  moment  slew  their  fellow-men,  and  the 
next  moment,  as  sighing  paladins,  lay  on  their 
knees  before  their  lady-love.  That  these  moon- 
calves even  at  a  later  time  could  be  regarded  as 

*  Marriage  was  only  a  necessary  evil  to  Christian  priests,  and 
open  intercourse  of  the  sexes  a  horror;  thus  arose  celibacy, 
the  mode  of  life  of  monks,  etc.  Some  sought  to  attain  to  the 
loftiest  height  of  the  Christian  spirit  by  actually  unmanning 
themselves  ;  other  priests,  on  the  other  hand,  indulged  their 
passions  to  such  an  extent  that  they  openly  claimed  the  jus 
prima  nociis,  and  enforced  it  with  truly  Christian  zeal.  Mar- 
riages which  were  consecrated  in  this  manner  were  thought  to 
be  especially  blessed  and  continually  hovered  about  by  the 
holy  ghost.  After  some  reflection  this  seems  obvious,  and  it 
would  be  indeed  astonishing  if  the  holy  ghost  had  only  once 
experienced  an  inclination  to  descend  to  a  people  who  honored 
him  so  gratefully. 


26  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

models  of  noble  manhood  by  the  ladies,  is  due 
to  those  senseless  romanticists  who  have  sought 
for  the  spirit  of  poesy  in  opposition  to  reason. 
Otherwise  it  would  have  been  obvious  to  every 
child  that  a  man  made  up  of  vulgarity  from 
top  to  toe,  whose  only  study  consisted  in  riding 
and  killing,  was  not  capable  of  any  truly  noble 
attachment  to  woman,  even  if,  through  the 
fashionable  exaggeration  of  a  coxcombical  gal- 
lantry, he  should  have  reached  such  a  stage  of 
eccentricity  as  to  allow  himself  to  be  despatched 
out  of  the  world  for  the  sake  of  his  lady-love. 
How  delicate  the  sentiments  of  these  heroes 
were  in  practice  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  when 
they  had  to  absent  themselves  from  home  for 
the  purpose  of  slaying,  they  would  place  a 
solidly  wrought  lock  on  the  adored  body  of  their 
"  noble  lady  "  in  order  to  facilitate  her  leading  a 
chaste  life. 

What  the  knights  were  as  lovers,  the  minstrels 
in  many  respects  were  as  poets  of  love.  The  ob- 
ject in  view  rarely  was  to  give  poetic  expression 
of  real  sentiments  which  could  bear  the  test  of 
reason,  but  as  a  rule  only  the  versified  exagger- 
ation of  an  artificial  emotion,  in  order  to  satisfy 
the  prevailing  fashion.  Thus  as  gallantry  and 
killing  were  the  stereotyped  modes  of  amuse- 
ment, so  the  poetical  praise  of  these  arts  was  also 
treated  as  an  entertaining  handicraft.  Women 
could  not  find  a  true  recognition  and  appreciation 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  2J 

in  an  age  when  men  sought  their  highest  honor  in 
throwing  each  other  from  the  horse,  or  in  other 
ways  breaking  each  other's  necks. 

At  a  later  period  the  position  of  woman  in 
France  especially  claims  our  attention.  There, 
according  to  the  national  character,  chivalry  took 
on  a  more  spiritual  expression  and  a  more  grace- 
ful form,  and  from  the  chivalrous  gallantry  which 
inspired  the  Duke  de  la  Rochefoucault  with  the 
verses  (on  Madame  de  Longueville): 

Pour  marker  son  coeur, 
Pour  plaire  a  ses  beaux  yeux 
J'ai  faft  la  guerre  aux  rois, 
Je  l'aurais  faite  aux  dieux — 

love  for  women  passed  through  various  phases 
of  fastidiousness  and  frivolity  till  it  reached  that 
bright  relationship  in  which  the  "  beautiful"  and 
"  strong "  minds  of  the  Ninons  and  their  lovers 
at  the  time  found  their  greatest  happiness.  But 
also  this  relationship,  upon  which  the  reflection  of 
court-life  so  often  cast  its  splendor,  and  which 
can  furnish  no  standard  for  the  average  position 
of  women,  rarely  was  an  entirely  true  and  satis- 
factory one,  and  was  moreover  confined  only  to 
certain  circles.  Through  it  a  sphere  was  opened 
only  for  social  life  in  which  women  had  to  seek 
compensation  for  the  deprivations  of  political  life, 
while  complete  political  and  social  liberty  must 
form,  as  it  were,  the  atmosphere  in  which  the 
flower  of  love  unfolds  itself. 


28  THE  RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

In  the  French  revolution  no  definite  position 
could  be  developed  for  women.  They  indeed 
played  a  great  part  in  it,  just  as  the  French 
nation  possesses  the  most  excellent  women,  but 
even  in  France  the  theoretical  and  historical  prep- 
arations, which  could  become  the  foundation  for 
a  new  position  of  the  weaker  sex,  were  wanting ; 
moreover  the  revolutionary  struggle  very  soon 
changed  into  the  history  of  Napoleonic  "hero- 
ism "  in  which  the  women  of  course  were  forced 
into  the  background  before  soldiers  and  weap- 
ons. The  soldier  has  no  other  position  for  women 
than  that  of  whores  or  daughters  of  the  regiment. 

After  the  Napoleonic  period,  women  as  well  as 
men,  as  we  know,  spent  their  days  in  a  condition 
of  vacillation,  unconsciousness,  prostitution,  and 
philistinism.  The  position  of  women  can  still  be 
designated  by  three  words  :  they  are  tolerated, 
used,  and  protected  so  far  and  so  long  as  men  see 
fit,  and  must  always  remain  about  as  far  behind 
them  in  their  demands  and  their  progress  as  their 
physical  strength  remains  behind  that  of  the  men. 
Although,  after  passing  through  Antiquity  and 
the  Middle  Ages,  time  has  developed  more  hu- 
mane customs  and  forms,  women,  in  relation  to 
men  or  in  comparison  with  men,  are  still  without 
rights  in  almost  every  respect ;  and  in  a  thousand 
cases  where  a  man  may  and  can  emancipate  him- 
self, emancipation  for  woman  remains  a  crime  and 
an  impossibility.     The  history  of  women  up  to 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELA  TIONS.  29 

this  time  can  therefore  in  reality  only  be  a  history 
of  their  disqualification,  and  it  need  not  astonish 
us  that  men  have  refrained  from  writing  it.  The 
greater  need  of  freedom  which  women  themselves 
are  manifesting  indicates  a  step  in  progress.  In 
no  age  have  there  been  so  many  women  who  have 
demanded  the  emancipation  of  their  sex  as  in 
ours,  and  that  is  the  first  requisite  to  the  attain- 
ment of  emancipation.  First  of  all  it  is  necessary 
to  make  women  generally  conscious  of  the  need 
of  emancipation,  and  to  spread  clear  views  not 
only  in  regard  to  existing  injustice,  but  also  in  re- 
gard to  the  justice  that  is  to  be  acquired. 

The  position  of  women  is  to-day,  as  always, 
closely  connected  with  the  entire  network  of  the 
political,  social,  economic,  and  religious  condi- 
tions. It  is  therefore  necessary  to  examine  the 
various  aims  and  conditions  of  the  emancipation 
of  women,  which  the  following  treatise  proposes 
to  do  by  means  of  a  brief  review  of  prevailing 
opinions  and  circumstances.  Above  all  things 
the  general  aim  and  province  of  the  emancipation 
with  regard  to  the  nature  and  lot  of  woman  must 
be  considered  in  a  few  words. 


30  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 


THE  EMANCIPATION  OF  WOMAN. 

The  emancipation  of  woman  lias  been  greatly 
ridiculed,  and  partly  with  good  reason.  It  is 
generally  understood  in  a  way  that  involves  a 
misconception  of  woman's  lot,  a  repudiation  of  the 
feminine  nature,  and  an  ambition  to  enter  the 
province  of  the  masculine.  And  this  conception 
(we  have  found  it  as  early  as  Plato,  as  shown  in 
the  foregoing  chapter)  has  frequently  been  pro- 
voked or  encouraged  by  women  themselves,  inas- 
much as  they  sought  to  manifest  their  emancipa- 
tion in  the  imitation  of  masculine  externalities 
and  in  unfeminine  display.  But  the  emancipation 
that  is  to  be  considered  here  has  nothing  to  do 
with  female  smokers  and  with  sportswomen,  nor 
with  huntresses  and  amazons,  nor  with  female 
scholars  and  bluestockings,  nor  with  female  diplo- 
matists and  queens.  I  think  it  is  no  offence  to 
women  if  we  consider  them  as  in  their  proper 
place  only  in  the  manifestations  of  pure  humanity, 
true  culture,  and  reason.  We  might  otherwise 
easily  come  to  consider  masculine  women  as  the 
ideal.  But  there  is  nothing  more  repulsive  in  this 
world  than  a  masculine  woman,  even  if  she  should 
glorify  her  masculinity  with  the  splendor  of  a 
crown.     The  celebrated  Elizabeth  of  England  was 


AND    THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  3 1 

a  real  monster  of  a  woman,  and  it  is  astonishing 
that  this  "virgin"  hypocrite  found  even  a  single 
lover. 

In  a'word,  the  chief  error  in  the  direction  of 
the  emancipation  of  woman  has  hitherto  con- 
sisted in  the  attempt  to  educate  woman  into  a 
man,  and  even  into  a  man  of  the  present  state  of 
development,  that  is,  on  occasion  even  into  a  sol- 
dier, instead  of  vindicating  her  humanity  and  her 
right  to  citizenship  in  accordance  with  her  nature 
as  against  man,  and  allowing  her  nature  free 
scope  of  development  and  of  activity.  Because 
hitherto  man  alone  could  assert  himself,  the  belief 
has  arisen  that  the  self  assertion  of  woman  must 
begin  on  masculine  domain.  But  with  this  sort 
of  emancipation  the  feminine  sex  is  benefited 
least  of  all.  Let  us  but  imagine  the  opposite 
case,  namely,  that  the  oppressed  man  is  to  be 
emancipated  by  a  feminine  education  and  by  being 
assigned  a  feminine  sphere  of  action.  Without  a 
true  conception  of  and  strict  adherence  to  the 
feminine  nature,  every  attempt  at  emancipation 
must  necessarily  lead  to  error  and  absurdity.  We 
hear  many  a  woman  express  the  wish  that  she 
were  a  man.  Not  one  of  them  would  ever  strike 
upon  such  unnatural  wishes  of  despair,  if  she  had 
the  opportunity  and  liberty  of  being  entirely  a 
woman. 

If  the  woman  oversteps  the  limits  of  her  nature 
and  destiny,  she  does  not  find  an  elevated  stand- 


32  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN* 

point  in  her  thought  upon  which  she  could  place 
herself.  A  man,  if  he  attempts  to  soar  beyond 
his  sphere,  at  least  finds  in  his  imagination  the 
aggrandizement  and  glorification  which  endow 
him  with  a  superhuman  character :  he  is  called  a 
"giant,"  a  "  demon,"  a  "  god."  But  the  woman, 
if  she  breaks  through  her  circle,  does  not  find  a 
higher  stage  than  that  which  the  aspiring  man 
has  left  behind,  and  she  never  attains  to  anything 
more  than  being  the  imitator  of — man.  The 
man,  if  he  overleaps,  loses  at  most  his  name,  the 
woman  also  her  sex.  The  woman  can  become  a 
"  god  "  or  "  goddess  "  only  when  she  aspires  to  be 
only  a  woman.  Growth  by  means  of  masculine 
qualities  makes  a  monster  of  woman.  We  men 
have  nothing  to  surrender  to  you  women  by 
which  you  could  improve,  beautify,  and  ennoble 
yourselves ;  everything  good,  beautiful,  and  noble 
you  possess  in  your  truly  humane  hearts,  your 
fine  feeling,  and  your  susceptible  minds.  Inter- 
change  our  qualities  we  can  and  must,  ^change 
them,  never ! 

When  we  speak  of  the  emancipation  of  woman, 
the  point  cannot  therefore  be  to  obscure  the  sex- 
ual limits.  These  limits  should  and  must,  rather, 
be  strictly  retained,  but  defined  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  man  cannot  infringe  on  the  domain  of 
woman  arbitrarily.  The  woman  is  not  to  be  his 
prisoner,  his  slave,  and  his  tool,  and  he  not  her 
guardian,  her  master,  and  her  exploiter. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  33 

Kitl.erto  woman  has  only  been  looked  upon  as 
a  j-applement  and  appendage  to  man.  The  human 
heing  per  se,  the  independent  personality,  the  sover- 
eign individual  has  never  been  recognized  in  woman. 
It  seems  that  the  Bushmen  on  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  are  the  only  ones  who  have  considered 
woman  equal  to  man,  for  they  have  only  one  ex- 
pression for  both.  The  woman  is  to  belong  to 
the  man  ;  the  question,  why  is  not  the  man  like- 
wise to  belong  to  the  woman,  occurs  to  no  one. 
She  is  brought  up  for  the  man,  and  must  live  for 
f.he  man ;  she  receives  her  name  from  the  man ; 
?he  is  "  taken"  by  the  man,  supported  by  the  man, 
put  under  obligation  to  the  man,  made  the  ward  of 
the  man,  punished  by  the  man,  used  by  the  man, 
and  forsaken  by  the  man. 

The  man  is  considered  as  a  human  being,  the 
woman  as  only  the  appendix  to  this  human  being  ; 
but  the  woman  is  more  a  human  being  than  the 
present  man,  and  human  rights  know  no  sex.  As 
a  certain  French  orator  said  that  law  is  an  atheist, 
it  can  be  said  of  right  that  it  is  a  neuter.  But 
hitherto  right  has  always  been  of  the  male  sex. 
Men  have  made  the  rights,  men  have  made  the 
morals,  men  have  made  the  duties,  men  have 
made  the  laws,  and  they  have  taken  good  care 
that  woman  should  be  excluded  as  much  as  possi- 
ble from  everything. 

But,  it  will  be  said,  you  have  declared  that  the 
limits  of  womanhood  must  be  adhered  to,  and  yet 


34  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

you  wish  from  the  start  to  introduce  woman  into 
the  sphere  of  men  ?  This  is  only  apparently  done. 
Woman  is  to  participate  in  public  and  political 
life  only  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  her  nature  ; 
but  if  public  and  political  life  has  hitherto  been  so 
coarse  and  violent  that  only  masculine  nature  and 
strength  could  perform  the  chief  work  in  it,  it 
neither  follows  for  the  past  that  the 'smaller  part 
the  more  delicate  nature  of  woman  could  necessa- 
rily have  played  in  public  life  ought  to  have  fur- 
nished  a  standard  for  her  human  rights,  nor  does 
it  follow  for  the  future  that  the  work  of  public 
and  political  life  will  always  remain  so  coarse  and 
violent  as  it  has  been  until  now,  and  that  therefore 
the  participation  of  woman  in  the  same  must  al- 
ways meet  with  the  same  difficulties. 

The  chief  work  of  history,  that  coarse  prelim- 
inary work  which  has  so  far  called  for  the  great- 
est strength,  and  the  purely  male  qualities,  but 
which  at  the  same  time,  to  the  disgrace  of  reason 
be  it  said,  gave  these  qualities  their  most  glorious 
significance,  has  hitherto  been  wholesale  murder, 
war.  This  work  could  of  course  not  be  performed 
by  the  women  ;  but  neither  could  the  successes, 
the  fame,  and  the  merit  of  it  fall  to  their  lot. 
The  men  carried  on  this  murderous  profession 
alone,  had  to  carry  it  on  alone  according  to  their 
nature,  and  whatever  the  women  did  in  the  mean- 
time, according  to  their  nature,  was  not  credited 
to  them  as  worthy  of  the  same  distinction  as  mur- 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  35 

der  was  to  the  men.  The  women  were  therefore 
neglected  and  disqualified  because  they  did  not — 
murder.  Let  us  imagine  history  without  war,  or 
the  weaker  sex  capable  of  engaging  in  war,  and 
the  entire  position  of  woman  is  changed  in  an  in- 
stant. Among  warlike  nations  the  woman  was 
least  valued,  and  the  abolition  of  war  is  the  liber- 
ation of  woman. 

At  bottom  it  is  therefore  chiefly  the  preponder- 
ance of  physical  strength  and  of  the  warlike  pas- 
sion which  gives  man  the  right  to  lay  exclusive 
claim  to  public  and  political  life.  Not  alone  in  war, 
but  also  in  other  branches  of  public  and  political 
toork  these  same  qualities  are  more  or  less  required, 
so  that  whithersoever  we  look,  physical  strength 
and  the  warlike  passion,  which  is  wanting  in 
woman,  play  an  important  part.  But  is  there 
here  any  equitable  warrant  for  considering  women 
less  qualified  as  human  beings  and  as  citizens? 
Does  right  depend  on  the  size  of  the  gall-blad- 
der, on  the  strength  of  the  limbs,  on  the  thickness 
of  the  bones,  on  the  hardness  of  the  muscles,  or 
the  coarseness  of  the  fists  ?  And  could  not  the 
woman  be  granted  the  right  to  "counsel"  even 
where  she  was  incapable  of  "  acting  "  ?  Was  it  there- 
fore necessary  to  deprive  her  of  all  rights  where 
she  was  immediately  concerned  and  entirely  com- 
petent? Because  the  woman  cannot  lead  an 
army  in  the  field,  may  she  therefore  not  have  any 
voice  in  her  own  affairs  ?     Because  a  woman  can- 


36  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

not  be  a  policeman,  shall  therefore  a  husband  be 
allowed  to  have  her  brought  back  into  his  house 
by  policemen  when  she  has  escaped  from  him,  he 
having  become  unbearable  ?  Because  a  woman 
cannot  become  a  sheriff,  may  a  sheriff  therefore 
tear  away  from  her  the  children  whom  she  has 
borne,  and  return  them  to  the  hated  father  who 
will  maltreat  them  ?  Because  a  woman  perhaps 
cannot  be  a  minister  of  finance,  must  the  man 
therefore  be  her  financial  guardian  ?  Because  a 
woman  is  less  fitted  for  a  scholar  and  philosopher, 
shall  education  therefore  be  forbidden  ground  to 
her?  Because  a  woman,  in  a  word,  cannot  be  a 
many  must  she  therefore  be  less  a  human  being 
and  a  citizen  than  man?  I  admit  that  besides 
the  physical  strength  and  the  warlike  passion  there 
are  still  other  qualities  of  mind  and  character 
which  in  a  hundred  situations  capacitate  the  man 
for  the  work  of  history  where  the  woman  is  un- 
able to  act.  But  this  can  affect  the  rights  of 
woman  all  the  less  since  her  sphere,  in  a  purely 
human  respect,  is  infinitely  richer  in  service  to 
society  than  that  of  the  men.  At  all  events,  they 
must  have  the  same  right  to  develop  and  to  exer- 
cise their  faculties  in  every  direction,  according  to 
their  own  desires. 

Democrats  maintain  that  the  dignity  and  the 
right  of  man  consist  in  his  self-determination, 
and  that  he  is  to  obey  only  those  laws  in  the 
making  of  which  he  himself  has  participated.     But 


AND    THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  tf 

do  the  laws  of  the  State  only  concern  men  ?  Why 
should  the  women  obey  laws  which  were  made 
without  their  aid  ?  Are  there  "  human  dignity"  and 
"  self-determination  "  for  men  and  not  for  women  ? 
Millions  of  women  suffer  under  the  oppression  of 
shameful  marriage  laws,  and  women  are  to  be  ex- 
cluded from  the  deliberation  of  such  laws?  Is  a 
law  which  men  dictate  to  women  less  an  act  of 
violence  than  the  law  a  despot  dictates  to  men? 
Whether  the  men  deprive  the  woman  of  her  rights 
in  a  democratic  assembly,  or  whether  a  despot  does 
the  same  to  the  man  in  his  cabinet,  amounts  to 
one  and  the  same  thing  from  the  standpoint  of 
right ;  and  when  a  so-called  government,  having, 
through  all  possible  means,  kept  the  people  in  a 
state  of  ignorance,  declares  them  to  be  not  ripe 
for  liberty,  this  declaration  is  just  as  justifiable  as 
when  the  men  keep  the  women  in  a  state  of  help- 
lessness and  on  that  account  judge  them  incapable 
of  participation  in  political  life.  So  long,  there- 
fore, as  the  women  have  not  equal  political  and 
civil  rights  with  the  men,  in  order  to  assert  them- 
selves so  far  as  their  ability  and  their  interest 
prompt  them,  there  is  still  a  great  deal  wanting 
in  the  logic  of  democrats.  The  opinions  of  a  man 
about  women  can  quite  properly  be  considered  as 
the  measure  of  his  qualification  for  liberty  and  hu- 
manity. Whoever  is  not  just  towards  women 
preaches  vulgarity  and  adopts  despotism.  Daily 
experience  also  teaches  that  those  most  distin* 


38  THE   RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

guish  themselves  by  intellectual  and  moral  vulgar- 
ity who  treat  the  emancipation  of  women  with 
scorn  or  condemnation. 

First,  therefore,  comes  the  political  emancipa- 
tion of  woman,  i.e.,  her  installation  into  her  poli- 
tical rights,  so  that  she  may  have  the  liberty  and 
the  opportunity  to  guard  her  own  interests  in  the 
State  without  the  tutelage  of  the  men. 

Besides  this  emancipation,  however,  there  is  still 
the  conventional,  the  moral,  the  economic,  the  re- 
ligious, etc.,  to  be  aspired  to,  the  object  of  which 
must  always  be  only  to  establish  the  liberty  and  the 
right  of  women  within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the 
feminine  nature,  and  to  protect  them  against  the 
invasions  and  the  commands  of  men,  or  to  abol- 
ish woman's  dependence  on  the  will  of  the  men, 
and  finally  also  to  place  woman  in  a  position  to 
freely  act  out  her  true  nature  by  means  of  every 
aid. 

These  different  points  will  be  discussed  in  detail 
in  the  following  pages.  It  is  to  be  observed  that 
political  emancipation  is  the  chief  point  at  issue  as 
against  men,  even  in  the  freest,  while,  for  instance, 
religious  emancipation,  economic  emancipation,  are 
questions  which  remain  to  be  solved  even  for  the 
majority  of  the  male  sex,  almost  everywhere,  and 
are  therefore  more  of  a  common  concern.  In  re- 
spect to  women,  however,  every  single  question- 
takes  on  a  special  shape,  wherefore  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  consider  each  one  singly. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  39 

It  has  been  intimated  before  that  the  liberty  and 
influence  of  women  must  grow  in  the  same  degree 
in  which  the  brutal  strength  of  men  declines  in 
value.  The  nearer,  therefore,  the  time  approaches 
wihen  decisions  through  force  are  replaced  by  de- 
cisions based  on  right,  when  wars  are  abolished  as 
barbarities,  when  the  strength  of  the  hands  is  di- 
rected only  against  nature,  and  even  in  that  strug- 
gle has  in  a  great  measure  become  superfluous 
through  the  skill  of  machinery,  etc.,  the  more  will 
the  man  approach  the  humane  plane  upon  which 
the  woman,  so  to  speak,  stands  waiting  until  the 
savage  has  become  appeased,  and  has  developed 
the  capacity  of  acknowledging  a  being  as  free  and 
endowed  with  rights,  who  is  wanting  the  strength 
to  enforce  its  liberty  and  its  rights.  Woman  rep- 
resents, as  it  were,  from  the  start  the  humane 
principle,  and  man  in  a  certain  sense  becomes 
a  human  being  only  in  so  far  as  he  approaches 
woman.  A  great  part  of  that  which  hitherto  has 
passed  as  "  manly "  is  nothing  more  than  barba- 
rity. Brutal  strength,  which  has  been  a  mere 
means  in  the  pioneer  work  of  history,  has  come  to 
be  considered  as  a  pnnciple  and  as  a  permanent 
object.  Thus  what  has  been  looked  upon  as  the 
highest  will  hereafter  be  declared  to  be  the  low- 
est, and  women  w'll  have  to  learn  that  many  a 
"  hero  '  whom  they  have  adored  as  the  ideal  of 
manliness,  at  a  later  time  will  appear  as  a  murderer 
or  a  rowdy. 


40  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

From  these  suggestions,  concerning  the  natural 
way  in  which  even  history  in  part  leads  woman 
on  towards  emancipation,  it  does,  however,  by  no 
means  follow  that  woman  is  to  look  towards  the 
future  in  a  mere  attitude  of  expectancy.  It  is,  on 
the  contrary,  necessary  to  strive  in  all  directions 
that  women,  through  participation  in  the  struggles 
of  the  times,  should  come  to  the  aid  of  emanci- 
pating history,  and  it  is  moreover  essential  to  stir 
up  their  sense  of  justice  and  their  moral  sense  by 
contactwith  even  the  most  disgusting  phases  of  life. 
They  will  thus  acquire  a  complete  survey  of  their 
position  and  their  claims.  From  this  point  of  view 
the  following  chapters  are  especially  to  be  judged. 


and  the  sexual  relations.         41 


THE   PASSIVE   PROSTITUTION   OF 
WOMEN. 

Woman  has,  in  advance  of  man,  the  bitter  sat^ 
isfaction  that  there  is  a  far  greater  chasm  between 
the  different  positions  which  she  occupies  in  po- 
etry and  in  life  than  between  all  the  positions  which 
can  be  imagined  for  a  male  being.  Worshipped 
as  an  ideal  in  poetry,  degraded  below  the  animal 
in  life,  woman  may  contemplate  how  much  resti- 
tution must  be  made  to  her  in  order  to  fill  out  the 
chasm  between  her  degradation  and  her  apotheosis. 
Indeed,  between  the  most  exalted  man  of  history  or 
the  drama,  and  the  lowest  slave  of  the  bagnio  or  the 
plantation,  there  is  not  so  great  a  contrast  by  far 
as  between  a  Laura  or  Heloise  and  a  prostitute  of 
the  street  or  the  brothel. 

Woman  has  a  double  task  of  liberation.  First 
she  bears  with  man  the  common  yoke  of  the  pre- 
vailing oppression ;  but  if  this  yoke  is  cast  off, 
there  still  remains  for  her  the  special  yoke  which 
the  male  sex  has  placed  on  her  neck.  In  the  man 
the  human  being  alone  can  be  oppressed  or  liber- 
ated, in  the  woman  the  sex  as  well. 

The  despot  makes  a  slave  of  the  man  by  op- 
pression, but  even  this  slave  makes  a  sub-slave  of 
the  woman  by  purchase.     Even  for  the  slave  the 


42  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

possibility  of  saving  the  better  self  is  still  con- 
ceivable. But  a  woman  in  a  state  of  prostitution 
is  both  a  slave  and  a  human  monstrosity  at  the 
same  time.  The  woman  is  born  for  love,  and 
drowns  her  heart  in  a  bog  of  vice;  the  woman  is 
born  for  motherhood,  and  to  be  a  mother  becomes 
a  horror  to  her ;  the  woman  is  born  to  be  a  wife, 
and  of  the  happiness  of  a  wife  she  has  never  any 
conception.  Thus  is  the  woman  in  a  state  of 
prostitution.  Surely,  to  sell  one's  "love  "  without 
choice  and  without  love  is  the  lowest  stage  of 
human  abjectness.  If  all  women  could  feel  the 
degradation  which  is  the  lot  of  millions  of  their 
sex  in  the  state  of  prostitution,  the  whole  sex 
would  rise  in  rebellion  and  begin  a  sex  war,  as 
there  have  hitherto  been  national  and  religious 
wars. 

The  way  in  which  woman  has  reached  this 
degradation  also  indicates  the  way  to  free  herself 
from  it.  First  came  force,  which  compelled  the 
woman  to  give  herself  even  to  the  man  she  most 
despised.  As  a  slave,  and  as  an  ornament  to  the 
harem,  she  was  in  the  beginning  mere  booty. 
The  preponderance  of  physical  strength,  force, 
was  the  immediate  cause  that  made  woman  a 
tool,  a  thing  without  rights.  This  force  was  con- 
verted, also  with  respect  to  the  men,  into  political 
power,  the  power  of  princes,  and  as  such  became 
at  the  same  time  an  object  of  veneration.  The 
men  honored  it  as  subjects,  the  women  as  tools  of 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  43 

lust.  The  honor  which  a  woman  supposes  to  be 
done  her  when  a  despot  chooses  her  for  his  mis- 
tress is  nothing  more  than  a  continuation  of  the 
subserviency  with  which  formerly  the  slave  would 
surrender  herself  to  the  murderer. 

First  made  dependent  on  man  through  force, 
the  woman  fell  into  twofold  dependence  as  grow- 
ing civilization  made  the  maintenance  of  existence 
more  difficult.  Woman  existed  not  only  for  the 
man,  but  also  tJirongh  man,  who  by  virtue  of  his 
physical  strength  and  his  energetic  mind  found 
the  way  to  procure  the  means  of  existence  and  of 
luxury.  And  when  civilization  reached  a  height 
where  the  inequality  in  the  economic  conditions 
was  so  far  developed  that  even  a  great  part  of  the 
men  could  procure  none  or  insufficient  means  of 
existence  and  of  luxury,  that  part  of  the  feminine 
sex  which  was  dependent  on  them  became  com- 
pletely helpless,  completely  dependent.  The  help- 
less woman,  thrown  upon  herself  by  the  helpless 
man,  but  through  education  and  circumstances 
alike  incapacitated  to  help  herself,  gave  up  the 
only  thing  she  possessed  :  she  sold  her  body.  She 
sold  it  first  from  hunger,  then  to  get  means  for 
luxury  and  amusement.  And  this  lot,  originally 
prepared  by  force  and  then  decided  upon  by 
necessity,  has  now  become  an  actual  profession 
for  millions.  Prostitution  has  become  a  true 
branch  of  industry,  which  has  its  employers  and 
contractors,  as  well  as  **s  science  and  its  articles 


44  THE  RIGHTS  OF    W 'OMEN 

of  trade.  It  is  at  the  same  time  a  hereditary  cor* 
ruption  which  is  transmitted  from  the  mother  to 
the  children,  and  pursues  entire  classes  from  one 
generation  to  the  other,  inasmuch  as  the  want  of 
means  for  existence  goes  hand  in  hand  with  the 
want  of  means  for  education. 

Out  of  regard  for  the  weaker  nerves  of  women 
(since  women  have  weaker  nerves  than  men),  I 
shall  refrain  from  picturing  in  detail  the  fate  to 
which  so  many  thousands,  especially  in  great 
cities,  among  them  a  great  part  in  the  most  tender 
age  of  virginity,  are  consigned.  Whatever  the 
imagination  can  conceive  as  low  and  disgusting, 
that  is  suffered,  is  cultivated  by  a  great  part  of 
the  feminine  sex  from  necessity,  and  for  money. 
Every  hesitation  which  the  feelings  or  the  sensual 
impressions  might  oppose  in  a  single  case  is 
Overcome  by  necessity  and  by  money;  and  we  may 
not  be  far  from  the  truth  in  imagining  the  most 
beautiful  and  lovable  girl  in  the  world  transferred 
to  the  chambers  of  a  brothel,  where  she  trem- 
blingly begins  the  practice  of  her  profession  in  the 
arms  of  a  decrepit  old  man,  whose  aspect  causes 
all  the  five  senses  at  once  to  revolt,  but  whom 
money  enables  to  stimulate  his  deadened  vitality 
by  means  of  a  youthful  beauty  for — a  double 
premium. 

But  now,  you  women  who  shudder  at  the  read- 
ing of  such  things,  do  you  believe  that  prostitu- 
tion is  to  be  found  only  in  those  haunt?  \yh$re  a 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  45 

tax  is  levied  on  every  act  of  lust  ?  Look  about 
you  in  your  social  ranks  and  you  will  find  that  the 
circle  of  prostitution  encloses  thousands  of  fami- 
lies who  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  at  the  mention 
of  the  word  brothel.  When  a  girl  marries  from 
necessity,  or  is  made  to  marry  from  speculation, 
is  not  that  as  much  prostitution  as  when  she  sells 
herself  from  necessity  or  is  sold  from  speculation  ? 
To  be  sure,  by  marriage  she  sells  herself  only  to  a 
single  person,  but  that  does  not  change  the  im- 
morality of  her  relationship.  Those  women  who 
can  still  say  a  year  after  their  marriage  that  their 
husbands  are  really  the  men  of  their  hearts  are 
indeed  rare,  at  least  among  certain  classes ;  and 
this  confession  is  nothing  more  than  a  confession 
of  prostitution.  Most  marriages  are  the  product 
of  money  or  class  considerations,  or  exigencies  to 
avoid  in  the  eleventh  hour  the  entire  failure  of 
the  sexual  design.  But  where  marriage  as  a  rule 
is  a  mere  charitable  institution,  it  at  once  be- 
comes by  law  also  an  institution  of  compulsion, 
which  perpetuates  prostitution  and  makes  regret 
useless. 

No  further  exposition  is  necessary  to  show  that 
the  sources  of  prostitution,  into  which  the  greater 
part  of  the  feminine  sex  has  fallen,  are  political 
disqualification  and  economic  dependence,  i.e.,  the 
twin  tyranny  which  throws  the  greatest  part  of 
humanity  under  the  feet  of  the  ruling,  revelling 
minority.     The  abolition  of  prostitution   is  pos- 


46  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN        , 

sible,  therefore,  only  after  the  attainment  of  com- 
plete liberty  and  after  the  just  regulation  of  the 
social  conditions,  of  which  we  shall  speak  farther 
on.  But  pious  vulgarity  and  the  moral  police 
are  of  a  different  opinion.  They  think  that  they 
stifle  prostitution  at  its  source  if  they  drive  the 
unhappy  inmates  of  houses  of  ill-fame  out  of  town 
with  police  force  or  throw  them  into  prison.  It 
is  dreadful  that  history  necessitates  more  victims 
of  ignorance  than  enlightenment,  when  at  last 
attained,  is  able  to  make  happy  beings.  How 
many  millions  will  have  perished  in  misery  and 
degradation  before  the  knowledge  has  at  last  been 
reached  that  neither  the  police  nor  church  dis- 
cipline are  able  to  banish  an  evil  which  is  the 
necessary  result  of  legal  and  economic  conditions! 
And  what  is  easier  than  this  knowledge  if  we  are 
willing  to  abandon  the  obstinacy  of  our  egotism 
with  the  slothfulness  of  our  thinking? 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  A7 


THE  ACTIVE   PROSTITUTION   OF  MEN. 

LET  us  begin  with  the  education  of  men.  By 
education  I  do  not  here  mean  mere  domestic  and 
school  education,  but  also  the  sum  of  all  other 
influences  of  life  which  determine  the  intellectual 
and  moral  development  of  man  to  the  time  of 
complete  independence. 

Generally  even  in  the  beginning  of  the  period 
when  sexual  uneasiness  begins  to  show  itself  in 
the  boy,  he  is  exposed  in  schools,  institutes,  and 
elsewhere  to  the  temptations  of  secret  vice,  which 
is  transmitted  from  youth  to  youth  like  a  con- 
tagious corruption,  and  which  in  thousands  de- 
stroys the  first  germs  of  virility.  A  countless 
number  of  boys  is  addicted  to  these  vices  for 
years.  That  they  do  not  in  the  beginning  of 
nascent  puberty  proceed  to  sexual  intercourse 
with  women,  which  would,  by  the  way,  be  in 
every  respect  less  injurious,  is  generally  due  to 
youthful  timidity,  which  dares  not  reveal  its 
desire,  or  from  want  of  experience  for  finding 
opportunities.  Only  too  often  this  timidity  and 
this  want  are  overcome  by  chance  or  by  seduction, 
which  is  rarely  lacking  in  great  cities  where  pros- 
titution is  flourishing,  and  thus  numbers  of  boys 
immediately  after  the  transition  period  of  youth, 


48  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

in  accordance  with  the  previous  secret  practice, 
accustom  themselves  to  the  association  with  pros- 
titute women.  At  the  age  when  European  youths 
are  put  into  the  soldier's  uniform  or  are  wont  to 
enter  the  university,  this  association  frequently 
becomes  an  object  of  boasting,  and  to  calm  the 
sexual  desires  in  a  pool  of  filth  and,  in  connection 
with  it,  to  undermine  health  by  intemperance  or 
disgusting  diseases,  is  generally  developed  into  a 
fine  art  in  soldier  and  student  life. 

Thus  prepared,  the  young  man  approaches  the 
time  when  he  can  seriously  think  of  making  the 
acquaintance  of  a  girl  who  as  his  wife  is  to  satisfy 
his  heart  and  his  sexual  needs,  Most  men  of  the 
educated  classes  enter  the  marriage-bed  with  the 
consciousness  of  leaving 'behind  them  a  whole 
army  of  prostitutes  or  seduced  women  in  whose 
arms  they  cooled  their  passions  and  spent  the 
vigor  of  their  youth.  But  with  this  past  the  mar- 
ried man  does  not  at  the  same  time  leave  behind 
him  its  influence  on  his  inclinations.  The  habit 
of  having  a  feminine  being  at  his  disposal  for 
every  rising  appetite,  and  the  desire  for  change 
inordinately  indulged  for  years,  generally  make 
themselves  felt  again  as  soon  as  the  honeymoon 
is  over.  The  satisfaction  which  an  uncorrupted 
man  could  find  in  the  arms  of  his  wife  for  many 
years  is  shortened  all  the  more  for  the  man  of  the 
common  sort,  the  more  he  has  learned  to  look 
upon  woman  as  a  mere  instrument  for  the  satis- 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  49 

faction  of  his  changeable  sexual  appetite.  For 
the  simple  reason,  moreover,  that  women  are  to 
be  had  for  the  asking,  most  men  do  not  know 
how  to  appreciate  them.  Thousands  of  men  have 
before  marriage  lost  the  capacity  of  entering  into 
a  sincere  or  moral  relation,  and  give  their  wives 
nothing  but  their  name. 

A  new  epoch  now  begins  for  the  married 
man,  the  epoch  of  conjugal  deception.  What  he 
had  formerly  done  almost  publicly  he  now  does 
secretly,  and  often  at  an  incredible  expense  of  hy- 
pocrisy and  cunning.  Very  few  women  in  the 
least  suspect  the  dissipations  of  their  husbands, 
and  I  know  not  whether  it  is  for  their  good 
that  they  suspect  nothing.  In  Paris,  to  be  sure, 
women  generally  know  how  they  stand  with  their 
husbands,  and  they  know  also  how  to  provide 
against  being  pitied. 

If  all  men  were  to  write  Rousseauian  Confes- 
sions concerning  their  secret  sexual  doings,  the 
greater  part  of  the  educated  women  would  be 
driven  to  despair  or  turn  away  from  the  male  sex 
in  disgust.  Not  a  few  of  those  married  men  who 
formerly  associated  with  courtesans  because  they 
had  no  wives  now  address  themselves  to  their 
wives  only  when  they  have  no  courtesans. 

Now,  although  most  men  are  in  a  certain  sense 
"  not  worthy  to  unloose  the  latchet  of  the  shoes  " 
of  the  commonest  woman,  much  less  to  "  unfasten 
her  girdle,"  yet  they  make  the  most  extravagant 


50  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

demands  on  the  feminine  sex.  Even  the  greatest 
debauchee,  who  has  spent  his  vigor  in  the  arms 
of  a  hundred  courtesans,  will  cry  out  fraud  and 
treachery  if  he  does  not  receive  his  newly  married 
bride  as  an  untouched  virgin.  Even  the  most 
dissolute  husband  will  look  on  his  wife  as  de- 
serving of  death  if  his  daily  infidelity  is  only  once 
reciprocated.  And  while  he  demands  that  his 
wife  should  remain  faithful  because  her  nature 
requires  it,  he  will  nevertheless  involve  himself  in 
the  contradiction  of  always  suspecting  this  nature 
of  a  tendency  to  unfaithfulness  because  he  trans- 
fers his  own  experiences  and  weaknesses  to  the 
woman.  Thus  he  not  only  deceives  his  wife,  he 
also  even  punishes  her  for  deceiving  her.  But, 
himself  always  jealous  without  cause,  he  will  be 
indignant  at  the  most  justifiable  jealousy  on  the 
part  of  his  wife.  A  husband  who  is  annoyed  by 
the  jealousy  of  his  wife  deserves  it — and  what 
husband  is  not  annoyed  by  it  ?  No  husband  can 
bring  his  concessions  into  any  proportion  with  his 
demands,  and  nowhere  does  this  show  itself  more 
plainly  than  in  jealousy.  While  he  asks  of  his 
wife  to  take  precautions  against  even  the  appear- 
ance of  misdemeanors  of  which  she  has  never 
thought,  he  on  his  part  claims  freedom  from  re- 
proach for  all  offences  of  the  past  and  the  future. 
We  are  frequently  severe  towards  others  only 
because  we  have  not  yet  had  an  opportunity  to 
commit  their  offences.     We  are  wont  to  become 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  51 

all  the  more  magnanimous  the  more  cause  we 
have  to  depend  on  the  magnanimity  of  others. 
Of  this  truth  not  an  iota  is  corroborated  where 
the  views  of  men  with  respect  to  women  are  con- 
cerned. The  greater  the  injustice  a  husband  does 
to  his  wife,  the  less  is  lie  willing  to  submit  to  from 
her;  the  oftener  he  becomes  unfaithful  to  her,  the 
stricter  he  is  in  demanding  faithfulness  from  her. 
We  see  that  despotism  nowhere  denies  its  own 
nature :  the  more  a  despot  deceives  and  abuses 
his  people,  the  more  submissiveness  and  faithful- 
ness he  demands  of  them. 

Who  can  be  astonished  at  the  many  unhappy 
marriages,  if  he  knows  how  unworthy  most  men 
are  of  their  wives  !  Their  virtues  they  rarely  can 
appreciate,  and  their  vices  they  generally  call  out 
by  their  own.  Thousands  of  women  suffer  from 
the  results  of  a  mode  of  life  of  which  they,  having 
remained  pure  in  their  thought,  have  no  concep- 
tion whatever ;  and  many  an  unsuspecting  wife 
nurses  her  husband  with  tenderest  care  in  sick- 
nesses which  are  nothing  more  than  the  conse- 
quences of  his  amours  with  other  women.  And 
when  at  last,  after  long  years  of  delusion  and  en- 
durance, the  scales  drop  from  the  eyes  of  the 
wife,  and  revenge  or  despair  drives  her  into  a 
hostile  position  towards  her  lord  and  master, 
she  is  an  inhuman  criminal,  and  the  hue  and  cry 
against  the  fickleness  of  women  and  the  falsity  of 
their  nature  is  endless. 


52  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

On  an  average,  men,  married  as  well  as  unmar- 
ried, are  so  constituted  that  they  will  not  easily 
let  slip  an  opportunity  of  secretly  entering  into 
sexual  relations  with  any  woman  who  can  excite 
their  senses.  And  it  generally  requires  very  little 
to  excite  their  senses.  Those  that  are  insatiable 
are  in  certain  respects  as  easily  to  be  satisfied 
as  they  are  insatiable.  This  sexual  inclination  of 
men,  be  it  in  consequence  of  their  education  or  by 
nature,  is  so  constant  and  general  that  most  of 
them  view  every  woman  they  meet  only  with  the 
reflection  whether  she  would  be  likely  to  enter 
into  relations  with  them  or  not.  While  the  sight 
of  a  man  inspires  them  with  questions  after  his 
business,  his  views,  his  intellect,  etc.,  that  of  a 
woman  causes  them  only,  or  directly,  to  speculate 
on  her  sexual  willingness.  There  you  see  a  states- 
man, a  clergyman,  or  an  official — all  people  who 
in  the  presence  of  others  distinguish  themselves 
by  a  serious  and  severe  demeanor  which  would 
lead  us  to  suspect  almost  anything  else  than  an 
illicit  sentiment  towards  women ;  personages  who 
inspire  respect,  living  laws,  embodied  sermons, 
walking  documents.  The  serious  statesman,  or 
clergyman,  or  official  meets  a  pretty  lady  or  a 
pretty  servant-girl  on  a  promenade  where  the 
eyes  of  the  world  or  of  his  acquaintances  are  not 
upon  him.  In  passing  he  will  look  intently  and 
lustfully  into  her  eyes,  and  if  she  only  half  recip- 
rocates his  look,  or  only  answers  with  a  humane 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  &J 

smile,  an  object  on  the  way,  or  a  bird  in  the  trees, 
or  the  beauty  of  the  surroundings,  in  short  any- 
thing, will  suddenly  attract  his  attention  and  give 
him  in  the  eyes  of  a  casual  passer-by  an  excuse 
for  looking  round  after  her.  And  if  she  looks 
round  also,  he  will  have  forgotten  his  handker- 
chief or  something  else  which  will  necessitate  his 
following  her  in  order  to  convince  himself  that  he 
may,  in  a  tcte-a-tete,  exchange  the  serious  states- 
man, clergyman,  or  official  for  an  unmasked  mem- 
ber of  the  male  sex.  Every  look  of  a  woman, 
caused  perhaps  only  by  curiosity  or  thoughtless- 
ness or  good-nature,  exposes  her  at  once  with 
common  men  to  the  danger  of  an  appearance  of 
common  coquetry,  or  the  suspicion  of  sensual 
desire.  Every  pretty  or  even  agreeable-looking 
woman  who  travels  alone,  or  crosses  the  street 
alone  in  the  evening,  will  find  occasion  to  ward  off 
importunities.  The  reputation  of  many  a  woman 
is  endangered  merely  by  the  fact  that  she  does 
not  regulate  her  behavior  in  accordance  with  an 
entirely  low  conception  of  men,  that  she  does  not 
think  she  is  throwing  herself  away  by  being  natu- 
ral, that  she  has  not  accustomed  herself  to  see  a 
crime  in  candor.  Thus  are  most  men  restlessly 
pursued  by  the  instinct  and  fancies  of  sensuality ! 
Any  man  will,  under  safe  conditions,  put  himself 
at  the  disposal  of  any  pretty  woman,  if  she  desires 
nothing  more  than  sensual  pleasure.  There  are 
be  few  physically  healthy  men  who  can  give  the 
lie  to  this  sentence. 


54  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

The  habit  of  regarding  the  end  and  aim  of 
woman  only  from  the  most  vulgar  side — not  to  re- 
spect in  her  the  noble  human  being,  but  to  see  in 
her  only  the  instrument  of  sensual  desire — is  car- 
ried so  far  among  men  that  they  will  allow  it  to 
force  into  the  background  considerations  among 
themselves  which  they  otherwise  pretend  to  rank 
very  high ;  for  instance  the  considerations  of 
friendship.  There  are  few  men  who  are  so  faith- 
ful in  their  friendship  that  they  would  scruple  to 
put  the  fidelity  of  the  pretty  wife  of  their  friend 
to  the  test.  Adultery  through  so-called  friends  of 
the  family  is  the  most  common  of  all.  Love  and 
horse-trading  are  two  articles  in  which,  among  a 
great  many  men,  deceit  appears  to  be  legitimate 
and  seems  to  be  taken  into  the  bargain  in  "  friend- 
ship." 

From  all  these  hidden  parts  of  our  social  re- 
lations the  paint  must  be  washed  off.  Women 
must  become  indignant ;  and  if  I  had  not  sufficient 
confidence  in  them  to  think  the  above  will  suffice, 
I  could  sketch  a  far  more  glaring  picture,  without 
laying  myself  open  to  the  charge  of  exaggeration. 

But  when  the  feeling  of  women  has  once  been 
driven  to  indignation  with  respect  to  the  position 
which  they  occupy,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  they 
will  only  the  more  urgently  look  for  a  way  to  at- 
tain a  worthier  position,  and  to  follow  that  way, 
when  it  is  found,  with  persistence. 


AN.O    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  >5 


THE   EXCUSES   OF   MEN. 

In  the  previous  chapter  I  have  dwelt  on  the 
sins  against  women  which  our  sex  commits 
through  prostitution.  In  order  to  be  just  towards 
both  sides  I  shall  also  point  out  the  circumstances 
which  for  the  present  may  still  serve  to  excuse 
men,  although  not  to  justify  them. 

The  sexual  instinct  is  as  natural  and  as  legiti- 
mate as  the  instinct  for  eating  and  drinking. 
Whatever  nature  demands  cannot  and  should  not 
be  denied  her  ;  it  is  only  necessary  to  find  the  ethi- 
cal rules  which  will  secure  the  satisfaction  of  the 
natural  needs  without  involving  degeneration. 

Whatever  is  unnatural  is  also  immoral.  But  it 
is  unnatural,  consequently  immoral,  that  circum- 
stances will  not  allow  a  man  after  having  reached 
puberty  to  follow  his  natural  instincts  and  to  as- 
sociate himself  with  a  woman.  If  it  were  possible 
to  the  youth  to  marry  young,  he  would,  at  the 
hand  of  his  beloved,  pass  by  all  the  moral  cess- 
pools through  which  the  unmarried  are  driven  by 
the  passion  of  their  sexual  instinct.  He  would 
not  have  to  go  through  those  schools  of  corrup- 
tion in  which  he  learns  to  fit  himself  for  every- 
thing which  later  makes  him  unfit  for  any  true 
conjugal  relation.     In  the  arms  of  his  beloved  he 


$6  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

would  preserve  the  health  which  he  poisons  in  the 
arms  of  the  harlot.  He  would  respect  women, 
because  he  would  not  have  had  the  opportunity 
of  making  their  acquaintance  in  the  most  con- 
temptible of  all  states,  and  his  untainted  mind 
would  not  change  into  that  unscrupulousness 
which,  as  Jean  Paul  says,  does  not  hesitate  to 
pluck  to  pieces  the  noblest  woman  like  a  bee, 
only  for  the  sake  of  getting  hold  of  the  honey- 
sack. 

With  all  our  civilization  we  are  put  to  shame 
even  by  the  savages.  The  savages  know  of  no 
fastidiousness  of  the  sexual  instinct  and  of  no 
brothels,  because  their  nature  need  do  no  vio- 
lence to  itself  and  can  satisfy  its  needs  in  a  natu- 
ral manner.  They  show  us  at  the  same  time  that 
health,  as  well  as  morals,  is  less  endangered  when 
nature  is  allowed  free  play  than  when  it  is  driven 
into  by-ways  through  obstacles. 

We  are,  indeed,  likewise  savages,  but  in  quite  a 
different  sense.  Proof  of  this  is  especially  fur- 
nished by  our  youth.  But  that  our  students,  and 
young  men  in  general,  usually  pass  through  the 
school  of  corruption  and  drag  the  filth  of  the 
road  which  they  have  traversed  before  marriage 
along  with  them  throughout  life,  is  not  their  fault, 
so  much  as  the  fault  of  prejudices  and  of  our 
political  and  social  conditions.  Nature  demands, 
as  has  been  said,  the  satisfaction  of  the  sexual  in- 
stinct when  the  age  of  puberty  has  been  reached. 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  $7 

Our  priests,  moral  teachers,  and  schoolmasters, 
great  and  small,  maintain,  however,  that  nature 
is  a  vicious,  disqualified  person  whose  demands 
must  be  rejected  until  they,  the  priests,  etc.,  shall 
grant  her  a  hearing,  and  mark  her  with  the  stamp 
of  official  approbation.  That  through  this  rejec- 
tion ten  times  the  evil  is  brought  about  which 
these  wise  gentlemen  pretend  to  avoid,  they  them- 
selves know  very  well ;  but  if  there  is  no  more 
censorship  the  censors  will  lose  their  bread  and 
butter. 

Our  political  and  social  conditions  conform  to 
the  prejudices  sustained  by  our  religious  and 
moral  falsifiers.  Partly  through  police  limita- 
tions, partly  through  the  degeneration  of  our 
economic  conditions,  most  men  are  prevented 
from  marrying  until  the  uneasiest  period  of  their 
sexual  life  is  passed.  Yes,  thousands,  especially 
among  our  idling  military,  are  not  able  to  sup- 
port a  wife  until  they  are  almost  old  men,  and 
after  they  have  for  half  a  lifetime  been  masters 
in  the  school  of  debauchery  and  seduction  ;  and 
as  concerns  the  thousands  of  priests  whom  celibacy 
compels  to  revenge  oppressed  nature  with  hy- 
pocrisy and  all  manner  of  secret  means,  I  do  not 
know  whether  the  disgust  at  their  loathsome  lives 
or  pity  for  their  inhuman  lot  should  furnish 
the  standard  by  which  we  shauld  judge  them. 

Attention  must  be  repeatedly  called  to  the 
fact  that,  besides  celibacy,  student  and  military  life 


58  THE  RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

in  Europe  are  the  high-schools  of  prostitution. 
After  the  young  man  for  ten  years  has  stood 
under  the  lash  of  pedantic  and  servile  school- 
masters, he  feels  himself  free  for  the  first  time  at 
the  university.  But  it  is  not  the  freedom  which 
permits  him  to  develop  his  mental  powers  in  all 
directions  and  to  accustom  himself  to  participate 
in  public  life ;  no,  he  has  only  the  freedom  to 
spend  the  money  of  his  parents  without  being 
watched,  and  to  find  in  inns  and  brothels  an  out- 
let for  his  longing  to  exercise  his  rising  powers. 
The  systematic  favoring  of  these  doings  seems 
even  to  be  a  part  of  the  plan  of  the  governmental 
system  of  instruction,  and  the  wish  of  high  states- 
manship is  fulfilled  if  the  young  man  leaves  the 
university  enervated  and  dulled  ;  he  requires 
nothing  more  than  ability  to  pass  his  exami- 
nations and  to  execute  the  commands  of  the 
powers  that  be.  That  the  powers  that  be  do  not 
consider  whether  the  youth  who  is  used  to  de- 
bauchery is  still  capable  of  making  a  wife  happy 
need  not  astonish  the  female  sex  as  long  as  they 
cannot  comprehend  the  connection  between  their 
interests  and  political  development. 

The  women  moreover  will  admit  that  the  stand- 
ing armies  will  not  be  abolished  out  of  gallantry. 
For  do  not  the  standing  armies  furnish  the  chief 
representatives  of  gallantry  ?  The  powers  that  be 
are  liberal  enough  to  allow  the  maltreated  soldier 
and  the  bored  officer  to  seek  compensation  for  the 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS,  59 

hardships  of  their  profession  among  the  degraded 
feminine  sex,  and  the  degraded  feminine  sex  is 
sufficiently  grateful  to  recognize  the  blessing  of 
having  fops  instead  of  men,  dancing  partners  in- 
stead of  friends,  whore-hunters  instead  of  hus- 
bands, educated  for  them  by  raving  about  the 
resplendent  soldiery.  In  Switzerland  and  North 
America  women  must  be  very  unhappy,  because 
men  must  dispense  with  the  chief  school  of  train- 
ing for  married  life,  namely,  the  standing  armies  ! 
But  they  are  compensated  here  by  the  moneyed 
men,  who  can  buy  everything,  and  by  the  friends 
of  the  slave-holders,  who  see  to  it  that  the  doctrine 
of  the  despoliation  of  the  weak  does  not  suffer. 

But  marriage  also,  as  it  now  exists,  is  a  school 
for  the  dissemination  of  conjugal  infelicity  for 
men  no  less  than  for  women.  More  of  this  later. 
It  appears  on  all  sides  that  most  men  also  are  the 
victims  of  existing  conditions,  that  is,  of  the  pres- 
ent want  of  freedom  and  of  economic  injustice, 
whereupon  the  women  become  the  victims  of  the 
victims. 

A  special  point  which  comparatively  admits  of 
an  excuse  for  men  in  the  discussion  of  sexual 
rights  and  duties  is,  finally,  "adultery."  The 
condition  for  equal  claims  is  equal  needs.  Now 
if  it  can  be  shown  that  the  woman  has  the  same 
sexual  needs  as  the  man,  then  adultery  on  her 
part  is  of  no  greater  significance  than  on  the  part 
of  man.     But  whether  we  find  the  reason  for  it  in 


60  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

the  difference  of  education  or  in  the  difference  of 
nature,  it  can  be  considered  an  established  fact 
that  the  man  is  much  more  liable  to  sexual  temp- 
tations than  the  woman  ;  or  that  the  mere  sensual 
need  is  much  less  in  woman  than  in  the  man.  A 
further  difference  follows  from  the  present  conju- 
gal conditions.  The  man  must  as  a  rule  take  upon 
himself  the  care  of  the  family,  and  the  members 
of  the  family,  the  children,  depend  on  the  head  of 
the  family  for  the  means  of  existence.  By  "  adul- 
tery," therefore,  the  wife  runs  the  risk  not  only  of 
unjustly  increasing  the  cares  of  her  husband,  but 
also  of  lessening  the  rights  of  his  children,— consid- 
erations which  the  man  generally  need  not  over- 
come in  "  adultery."  Moreover,  an  extraordinary 
digression  on  the  part  of  the  man,  according  to 
the  prevailing  and  in  part  justifiable  opinions, 
does  not,  when  it  becomes  publicly  known,  reflect 
any  disgrace  upon  the  wife — she  is  rather  sympa- 
thized with  as  the  suffering,  the  injured  party ; 
but  a  digressing  wife  exposes  her  husband  to 
scorn  and  contempt. 

All  these  differences  and  excuses,  however,  ac- 
cording to  which  the  husband  sins  less  and  the 
wife  more  by  "  adultery,"  are  to  be  considered  as 
admissible  only  from  the  standpoint  of  our  pres- 
ent conditions.  It  will  later  appear  that  from  a 
correct  point  of  view  both  sexes  must  be  meas- 
ured by  the  same  standard  of  right.  Least  of 
all  do  I  by  excusing  men  intend  to  accuse  women. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  6 1 

I  recognize  as  much  the  blamelessness  of  most 
women  who  take  a  false  step  as  the  hypocrisy  of 
most  men  who  try  to  enlarge  upon  the  misde- 
meanors of  women.  I  even  ask  the  men  who 
would  secure  the  inviolability  of  female  fidelity 
by  referring  their  wives  to  the  consequences  for 
the  family,  whether  they  would  grant  them  the 
same  liberty  which  they  claim  for  themselves  if 
they  knew  them  to  be  sterile?  The  negative  an- 
swer must  here  again  disclose  that  Jesuitical  ego- 
tism which,  by  using  "  the  right  of  the  stronger," 
tries  to  fetter  the  weaker  with  forced  considera- 
tions, in  order  to  secure  greater  scope  for  itself, 
and  which  tries  to  magnify  the  faults  of  others  in 
order  to  lessen  its  own.  Should  it  nevertheless 
appear  desirous  to  punish  the  infidelity  of  women, 
I  would  propose  capital  punishment  on  condition 
that  the  infidelity  of  the  men  be  punished  by  Ab6- 
lardization. 


62  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 


LOVE    AND   JEALOUSY. 

A  LADY-FRIEND  has  requested  of  me  an  answer 
to  the  following  questions  : 

1.  "  Is  jealousy  an  inborn  or  an  inbred  passion  ?" 

2.  "Can  a  human  being  love  several  persons  at 
once,  and  if  he  believes  himself  able  to  do  this, 
can  this  capacity  be  called  love  ?  " 

Logic  demands  that  I  answer  the  second  ques- 
tion first,  for  jealousy  must  be  looked  at  as  a 
concomitant  of  love,  not  love  as  a  concomitant  of 
jealousy. 

What  is  love  ?  In  simple  words  :  a  passionate 
attachment  to  a  person  of  the  other  sex,  in  whom 
a  man  (or  woman)  delights  in  the  highest  degree, 
and  for  whom  he  feels  the  highest  degree  of  ap- 
preciation, confidence,  and  good-will.  Through 
the  highest  degree  of  Appreciation,  etc.,  we  place 
the  person  on  an  ideal  standpoint.  The  concep- 
tion of  the  ideal,  however,  excludes  every  second 
ideal.  By  the  side  of  an  ideal  we  can  as  little 
have  another  ideal  of  the  same  kind  as  the  be- 
liever can  have  another  God  besides  the  well- 
known  Universal  One. 

If  we  conceive  of  love  as  a  passionate  enthusi- 
asm and  devotion  to  a  thereby  idealized  person, 
it  is  self-evident  that  its  object  can  never  be  more 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  63 

than  one  single  individual  at  the  same  time. 
"  Thou  entirely  fillest  my  soul,"*  sings  the  poet, 
and  a  full  soul  has  as  little  room  for  other  contents 
as  a  full  bottle  of  champagne. 

But  now  it  happens  very  frequently  in  this 
queer  world  which  denies  to  most  people  the  Op- 
portunity of  entering  into  suitable  relations,  or 
the  liberty  of  dissolving  unsuitable  connections, 
that  an  object  of  love  which  "  fills  the  soul  en- 
tirely" cannot  be  found.  In  such  a  case  one 
person  can  of  course  be  able  to  embrace  several 
objects  of  attachment  at  once,  not  only  with  the 
arms,  but  also  with  the  soul,  and  it  may  be  possi- 
ble that  a  man,  if  he  has  a  very  large  soul,  must 
have  recourse  to  a  dozen  or  more  women  in  order 
to  fill  it ;  yes,  he  may  even  feel  sincere  good-will  to- 
wards each  one  of  them,  and  may  value  each  one 
especially  for  her  individual  qualities,  just  as  we 
value  the  qualities  of  various  flowers.  But  this 
can  as  little  be  an  entirely  satisfactory  relation  for 
each  one  of  the  twelve  loved  ones  as  for  the  man 
himself,  if  he  is  capable  of  a  real,  passionate,  i.e.,  a 
true,  love,  which  cannot  be  otherwise  than  exclu- 
sive. He  will,  should  he  even  have  the  choice 
among  a  thousand  women,  still  feel  a  void,  and 
gladly  exchange  the  thousand  for  a  single  one 
whom  he  can  love  as  his  ideal  with  complete  de- 
votion. 

*"  Du  fullest  meine  Seele  ganz." 


6^  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

Foi  ,</inmon  men,  or  men  corrupted  by  our 
present  education,  it  is  a  mere  pretext  for  their 
inclinations  towards  the  harem  if  they  put  up  a 
doctrine  of  the  "  plurality  of  love  ;"  uncorrupted 
men  can  at  most  look  upon  the  doctrine  as  a 
make-shift  for  the  misfortune  of  not  having  an  op- 
portunity in  this  perverse  world  for  a  free  choice 
according  to  natural  affinity.  In  a  world  as  it 
ought  to  be  the  exclusiveness  of  love  will  be  all 
the  more  a  law  because  no  free  woman  will  want  to 
share  a  beloved  man  with  another,  and  vice  versa. 

Thus  we  have  reached  the  subject  of  jealousy. 
I  would  not  designate  jealousy  either  as  an  "  in- 
born "  nor  as  an  "inbred"  passion.  It  is  an 
accidental  passion,  for  which  the  faculty  indeed 
is  inborn.  In  its  nobler  form  and  in  its  nobler 
motives  it  arises  from  love  and  can,  according  to 
circumstances  and  the  character  of  the  person 
from  whom  it  emanates,  differ  in  its  nature  and 
in  its  mode  of  expression.  The  noblest  jealousy 
is  a  sort  of  ambition  or  pride  of  the  loving 
person  who  feels  it  as  an  insult  that  another 
one  should  assume  it  as  possible  to  supplant  his 
love,  or  it  is  the  highest  degree  of  devotion  which 
sees  a  desecration  of  its  object  in  the  foreign  inva- 
sion, as  it  were,  of  his  own  altar.  A  jealousy  of 
this  sort,  which  would  fain  keep  away  everything 
unworthy  from  the  beloved  person,  is  far  superior 
to  that  lower  grade  which  arises  from  the  anxiety 
of  losing  the  beloved  object  through  the  approach 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  65 

d(  another,  perhaps  worthier,  person.  This  sort  of 
jealousy  arises  either  from  weakness,  which  from  a 
sense  of  its  own  want  of  lovable  qualities  is  not 
convinced  of  being  sure  of  its  cause,  or  from  dis- 
trust, which  perhaps,  by  applying  its  own  standard 
inversely,  thinks  the  beloved  person  capable  of  in- 
fidelity. Sometimes  all  these  motives  may  act  to- 
gether. 

The  lowest  species  of  jealousy  is  a  sort  of  ava- 
rice or  envy  which,  without  being  capable  of  love, 
at  least  wishes  to  possess  the  object  of  its  jeal- 
ousy alone  by  the  one  party  assuming  a  sort  of 
property  right  over  the  other.  This  jealousy, 
which  might  be  called  the  Sultanic,  is  generally  to 
be  found  with  old  withered  "  husbands  "  whom 
the  devil  has  prompted  to  marry  young  women 
and  who  forthwith  dream  night  and  day  of  cuck- 
old's horns.  These  Argus-eyed  keepers  are  no 
longer  capable  of  any  feeling  that  could  be  called 
love,  t'hey  are  rather  as  a  rule  heartless  house- 
tyrants  ;  at  the  same  time  they  cannot,  therefore, 
make  their  wife  happy.  But  they  grudge  her 
every  happy  relationship,  because  their  egotism 
will  not  allow  them  to  admit  their  own  incapacity 
by  granting  her  a  compensation,  or  because  they 
wish  to  possess  alone  the  very  thing  they  do  not 
deserve,  in  order  to  abuse  it.  They  revenge  their 
own  want  of  amiability  by  deposing  from  office, 
so  to  speak,  the  (real  or  supposed)  amiability  of 
their  wife.     I  have  known  a  man  who,  loathed  by 


66  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

his  wife  like  carrion,  paid  no  other  attention  to  her 
than  to  watch  her  with  restless  anxiety  and  to 
pursue  her  with  querulous  jealousy.  She  died 
suddenly  by  an  accident.  Did  the  husband  fall 
into  despair  on  account  of  her  loss?  God  forbid  ! 
The  weight  of  a  mountain  was  taken  from  him, 
and  he  called  out,  relieved :  "Now  she  cannot  at 
least  belong  to  any  one  else  !  "  So  he  himself  did 
not  lose  anything  in  her  ;  still  he  could  not  bear 
the  thought  that  she  should  be  possessed  by  an- 
other. That  proves  that  jealousy  does  not  come 
from  love  alone. 

The  general  conclusion  will  be  that  jealousy  is 
more  the  result  of  wrong  conditions  which  cause 
uncongenial  unions  and  which  through  moral  cor- 
ruption artificially  create  distrust,  than  a  necessary 
accompaniment  of  love.  Let  us  imagine  a  com- 
munity consisting  of  ten,  a  hundred,  a  thousand 
couples,  all  of  them  united  by  true  love.  Is  jeal- 
ousy possible  among  these  two  thousand  lovers  ? 
I  do  not  think  so,  because  every  single  individual 
is  sure  of  his  or  her  beloved  object  through  recipro- 
cated love.  Now  let  us  imagine  this  community 
expanded  into  an  entire  nation,  educated  according 
to  reason,  in  which  both  sexes  have  every  possible 
opportunity  for  making  acquaintances  and  enter- 
ing into  suitable  unions  :  jealousy  will  be  banished 
by  the  simple  assurance  of  love. 

The  lady  who  asked  the  questions  traced  jeal- 
ousy to  self-esteem.     At  the  same  time  she  calls 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  6? 

attention  to  the  fact  that  even  animals  are  jeal- 
ous. Do  the  animals  then  possess  self-esteem? 
If  I  understood  the  questioner  rightly,  she  meant 
to  say  that  whoever  esteemed  himself  could  not 
bear  to  be  neglected  by  the  beloved  person  in  fa- 
vor of  a  third.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  in  such  a 
case  self-esteem  would  not  dictate  jealousy,  but 
rather  withdrawal  from  a  relation  in  which  the  in- 
terest taken  in  a  third  person  plainly  shows  us  that 
we  are  no  longer  wanted. 

Another  lady-friend  writes  me  that  jealousy  al- 
ways made  her  indignant ;  either  two  persons  were 
guaranteed  to  each  other  by  love,  and  then  there 
was  no  need  of  watching  each  other  with  Argus- 
eyes,  or  love  did  not  exist,  and  then  there  ought 
to  be  a  separation  ;  should  her  husband  torment 
her  with  jealousy,  she  would  look  at  it  as  a  want  of 
confidence,  as  an  insult,  as  a  disparagement  of  her- 
self. 

I  for  my  part  can  understand  jealousy,  but  not, 
as  it  were,  expound  it.  It  is  a  passion  with  which 
precisely  those  are  most  afflicted  who  are  the  least 
worthy  of  love.  An  innocent  maiden  who  enters 
marriage  will  not  dream  of  getting  jealous  ;  but 
all  her  innocence  cannot  secure  her  against  the 
jealousy  of  her  husband  if  he  has  been  a  libertine. 
Those  are  wont  to  be  the  most  jealous  who  have 
the  consciousness  that  they  themselves  are  most  de- 
serving of  jealousy.  Most  men  in  consequence  of 
their  present  education  and  corruption   have  so 


6S  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

poor  an  opinion  not  only  of  the  male  but  even  of 
the  female  sex  that  they  believe  every  woman  at 
every  moment  capable  of  what  they  themselves 
have  looked  for  among  all  and  have  found  among 
the  most  unfortunate,  the  prostitutes. 

When  jealousy  is  justifiable,  it  generally  is  so 
among  women.  A  woman  whose  early  confidence 
has  been  shaken  by  special  signs,  and  who  is  now 
tormented  by  constant  anxiety,  without  attaining 
to  any  certainty  about  the  infidelity  of  the  man  she 
loves,  is  in  a  position  deserving  deepest  sympathy 
and  no  reproach.  But  she  also  is  suffering  from 
the  perversity  of  conditions  which  make  hypo- 
crites of  her  husband  and  his  accomplices. 

The  most  objectionable  thing  about  jealousy 
is  that  it  attempts  to  fetter  the  person  against 
whom  it  is  directed,  that  it  would  deprive  him  of 
freedom  of  action,  of  the  right  of  free  control  over 
himself.  This  despotism  of  jealousy  is  connected 
with  marriage,  as  it  has  been  hitherto,  and  with 
the  legal  inequality  of  the  sexes.  If  the  sexual 
union  of  two  sovereign  individuals  is  actually 
made  into  a  relation  of  serfdom,  it  is  but  natural 
that  especially  the  stronger  party  will  presume  to 
punish  the  emancipation  of  the  other  as  a  crime. 
Hence  the  brutality  of  vulgar  husbands,  who,  after 
having  in  every  possible  and  intolerable  manner 
forfeited  their  wife's  love,  believe  themselves  jus- 
tified in  killing  her  when  her  precious  lord  has 
become  revolting  to  her  and  another  one  pleases 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  69 

her  better.  Such  cases  are  especially  adapted  to 
enlighten  us  as  to  the  nature  and  the  consequences 
of  common  jealousy.  But  whoever  has  reached 
those  lofty  heights  of  liberty  and  humanity  where 
he  will  grant  every  individual  the  right  of  sover- 
eignty over  himself  cannot  wish  to  forcibly  hold 
any  one  in  a  relation  that  does  not  conform  to 
his  wishes  ;  and  even  if  it  should  come  hard  to 
him  to  see  a  beloved  person,  or  one  become  in- 
dispensable by  habit,  make  use  of  her  right  of 
sovereignty  in  favor  of  a  third  person,  he  would 
still  silence  his  jealousy  in  consequence  of  his  ap- 
preciation of  the  rights  of  others.  It  can  moreover 
be  considered  as  having  the  force  of  a  mathemat- 
ical certainty  that  the  party  who  voluntarily  turns 
away  from  the  other  is  so  little  suited  to  the  other 
that  the  latter  can  anywhere  find  a  substitute. 


yo  THESKIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 


MORALITY. 

PlETY  has  nothing  else  to  oppose  to  immo- 
rality as  it  has  been  sketched  in  the  preceding 
chapter  than  unnatural  restraints  and  hypocrisy. 
Reason  has  no  part  in  this  senseless  undertaking ; 
she  recognizes  the  claims  of  nature  and  its  needs 
openly  and  frankly,  but  tries  to  regulate  its  mani- 
festations by  reasonable  and  truly  moral  condi- 
tions. 

It  is  the  task  of  mankind  to  follow  nature  under 
the  guidance  of  reason.  To  depart  from  nature 
and  to  return  to  nature  along  the  path  or  in  the 
form  of  civilization  is  the  evolutionary  process  of 
humanity  and  the  humane  spirit.  Mere  nature  is 
coarseness  or  dependence ;  to  reproduce,  as  it 
were,  nature  through  reason,  with  consciousness — 
that  is  civilization  and  liberty. 

Let  us  begin  with  liberty  itself.  The  savage  is 
free :  but  his  natural  freedom  is  subjugated  in  or- 
der to  return  at  a  later  period  as  cultivated  liberty 
come  to  consciousness  of  itself.  Just  so  with 
morals.  The  natural  relation  of  the  sexes  is  lost 
in  immorality  and  hypocrisy,  in  order  to  return  as 
free  love  in  moral  consciousness  and  form.  Nat- 
ural liberty  in  the  process  of  civilization  passes 
through  the  school  of   slavery  to  true   freedom, 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  71 

and  natural  morality  through  the  school  of  im- 
morality to  true  morality. 

Civilization  and  liberty  make  man  a  moral  be- 
ing. To  recognize  the  nitural  laws  by  means  of 
reason,  and  to  execute  them  freely  for  the  pur- 
pose of,  or  within  the  limits  of,  civilization — that 
is  moral  destiny,  moral  endeavor,  moral  life.  Man 
is  by  means  of  reason  lord  of  his  nature,  not  for 
the  sake  of  suppressing  it,  but  that  he  may,  as  it 
were,  renew  it  as  his  handiwork  in  ennobled  form. 

Let  us  apply  these  principles  of  liberty  and  mo- 
rality to  natural  needs.  The  animal  is  by  nature 
limited  in  its  desires;  instinct  directs  it  and  binds 
it  within  definite  tracks  of  needs,  to  step  out  of 
which  it  has  neither  the  power  nor  the  temptation. 
It  does  not  eat  in  order  to  eat,  or  to  enjoy  itself 
by  eating,  but  only  to  appease  its  hunger,  and 
when  it  has  eaten  its  fill  it  is  also  satisfied  ;  it 
mates  from  a  physical  need  in  a  definite  measure 
and  at  definite  times,  and  outside  of  these  times 
the  sexual  instinct  is  of  itself  quiescent.  Neither 
in  appeasing  its  hunger  nor  in  satisfying  its  sex- 
ual instinct  can  it  impel  itself  beyond  the  measure 
fixed  by  nature,  or,  as  it  were,  compose  variations 
to  the  theme  of  nature.  In  a  word,  it  is  not  free, 
but  merely  a  slave  of  nature.  Man,  however,  is 
free.  To  him  no  need  is  merely  physically  pre- 
scribed or  measured  out ;  he  has  rather  the  liberty 
than  the  instinct  to  overstep  his  mere  need,  to 
make  the  indulgence  of  it  an  "enjoyment"  and 


7  2  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

to  overdo  the  "  enjoyment."  Did  he  not  have 
the  liberty  and  the  capacity  to  overstep  the  ne- 
cessity of  nature,  neither  would  he  have  the  lib- 
erty and  the  capacity  to  refrain  from  transgress- 
ing. That  he  refrains  from  reasonable  motives, 
that  he  regulates  his  impulse  in  accordance  with 
reasonable  aims,  that  he  through  his  reason  shows 
his  liberty  the  measure  of  its  use,  that  he  con- 
sciously and  voluntarily  fulfils  the  aim  of  nature 
as  the  animal  does  unconsciously  and  involunta- 
rily—  that  is  his  pride,  that  is  morality. 

To  deny  nature  or  to  thwart  the  aims  of  na- 
ture, which  in  a  manner  furnish  reason  with  the 
material  for  morality,  can  never  be  moral ;  it  is 
rather  just  as  immoral  as  on  the  other  side  a 
transgression  of  the  natural  limits  and  objects. 
An  old  maid  (who  purposely  renounces  her  sexual 
nature)  is  therefore  just  as  immoral  as  a  courte- 
san, and  a  celibate  just  as  immoral  as  a  libertine. 

The  false  ideas  of  morality  with  respect  to  sex- 
ual affairs  show  themselves  in  what  we  Commonly 
call  the  sense  of  shame. 

What  is  the  sense  of  shame?  Generally  speak- 
ing, it  is  the  diffidence  about  exposing  something,or 
the  pain  at  having  exposed  something  which  may 
meet  with  the  disapproval  of  others.  Without 
this  respect  for  others  there  would  be  no  sense  of 
shame.  Theexistence  or  the  degree  of  shame, 
therefore,  directly  depends  on  the  conception  of 
the  one  feeling  ashamed,  and  this  conception  de- 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  ?3 

pends  on  the  real  or  supposed  opinion  of  others 
towards  whom  this  sense  of  shame  shows  itself. 
But  the  correctness  or  falseness  of  this  opinion 
determines  whether  there  is  any  occasion  for  shame 
or  not. 

If  we  think  of  mankind  in  a  state  of  nature,  we 
can  hardly  suppose  that  such  a  thing  as  sexual 
shame  existed  between  man  and  woman.  But  if 
we  follow  up  the  progress  of  development  the 
growth  of  shame  can  easily  be  explained  from  ex- 
ternals. The  periodic  indisposition  of  woma. 
gradually  began  to  impress  the  man  disagreeably, 
the  woman  concealed  it — she  was  ashamed.  Preg- 
nancy with  its  consequences  disfigured  feminine 
beauty:  the  woman  draped  herself — she  was 
ashamed.  In  the  course  of  propagation  deform- 
ities and  cripples  arose:  the  deformed  woman 
improved  her  shape  with  artificial  means — she 
was  ashamed.  Children  born  outside  of  marriage, 
who  were  not  supported  by  any  pater  familias, 
and  whom  the  mother  could  not  support,  became 
the  burden  of  others  ;  pregnancy  outside  of  mar- 
riage was  therefore  condemned  :  the  woman  made 
a  secret  of  it — she  was  ashamed.  The  excesses  of 
certain  shameless  periods  brought  about  reactions 
which,  with  the  immoderate  practice,  likewise  con- 
demned the  moderate  practice ;  therefore  all  sex- 
ual manifestations  had  to  be  avoided  :  people  were 
ashamed.  And  since  religion  has  even  pressed  the 
stamp  of  holiness  on  every  suppression  of  nature. 


74  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

intimidated  nature  has  become  entirely  shame- 
faced, and  all  the  world  is  ashamed.  But  with 
regard  to  the  very  things  on  account  of  which  it 
ought  to  be  most  ashamed  it  has  become  totally 
shameless. 

There  is  therefore  no  absolute  sense  of  shame, 
and  the  present  sense  of  shame  in  sexual  matters 
is  not  a  spontaneous  emotion  rooted  in  nature  and 
continuous  with  it,  but,  as  above  stated,  depend- 
ent on  the  judgment  of  others  and  a  product  of 
circumstances.* 

If  we  measure  the  sense  of  shame  by  the  stand- 
ard of  reason,  it  is  justifiable  only  when  it  con- 
forms to  true  morality,  and  is  therefore  the  ex- 
pression of  the  moral  consciousjtess,  and  in  this  way 
we  come  to  understand  that  the  preachers  of 
shame  are  sometimes  the  true  preachers  of  im- 
morality, of  that  immorality  which  would  further 
morality  by  the  suppression  of  nature  and  truth. 
It  is  surely  not  at  all  necessary  to  go  about  naked 
in  order  to  show  that  one  is  free  from  false  shame, 
nor  is  it  necessary  to  love  each  other  on  the  pub- 
lic thoroughfare  in  order  to  prove  that  one  recog- 
nizes the  claims  of  nature ;  but  only  a  fool  or  a 
hypocrite  will  want  to  sacrifice  the  inner  law  to 
external  considerations,  and  incorruptible  nature 
to  ridiculous  prejudices. 


*  Compare  the  festival  of  Priapus  with  Christian  hypocrisy, 
*nd  then  ask  wherein  the  essence  of  shame  consists. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  7$ 

Let  us  meet  the  hypocrites  with  straightforward 
language. 

Is  it  immoral  that  the  breast  of  the  youth  and 
the  maiden  is  filled  with  the  longing  of  love? 
No!  Why  then  do  you,  priests,  demand  that 
they  should  be  ashamed  of  it,  when  they  have  not 
asked  your  permission?  You  are  the  immoral 
ones. 

Is  it  immoral  that  a  woman  should  bear  a  child 
to  her  beloved  ?  No  !  Why  do  you  cast  her  out, 
then  ?  You  are  the  immoral  ones,  the  barbarians. 
You  will  demand  that  the  trees  shall  be  ashamed 
to  blossom  and  to  bear  fruit. 

The  human  being  who  is  ashamed  of  his  nature 
is  not  worthy  to  be  a  human  being.  What 
reasonable  ground  can  you  preachers  of  morality 
find  for  shame  which  you,  under  the  conditions 
which  you  have  decreed,  connect  with  sexual  love 
and  the  act  which  causes  the  existence  of  man  ? 
You  might  with  the  same  right  subject  eating 
and  drinking  to  your  conditions  and  expose  them 
to  condemnation.  If  you  are  ashamed  of  the  sen- 
timent and  the  act  which  caused  your  existence, 
you  ought  also  to  be  ashamed  of  your  existence 
itself,  for  which  you  sometimes  have  sufficient 
reason. 

There  is  no  greater  and  more  senseless  bar- 
barity than  that  "  moral  "  passion  for  condemning 
which  makes  the  pregnancy  of  woman  a  disgrace 
if   nature  has  not   been   granted  permission  by 


?6  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

priest  or  justice  of  the  peace  to  increase  the  race. 
The  pregnant  woman  should  under  all  conditions 
be  "  sacred,"  should  stand  under  the  protection 
and  receive  the  sympathy  of  the  entire  com- 
munity which  she  is  about  to  increase  with  an  at 
all  events  innocent  member.  Instead  of  that,  it  is 
made  out  a  crime  that  she  has  found  opportunity, 
without  the  aid  of  the  justice  of  the  peace  or 
the  priest,  to  present  the  community  with  a  new 
member,  and  the  hatred  and  persecution  of  igno- 
rance is  incited  against  the  unfortunate  one,  as  if 
the  intention  actually  were  to  make  a  suicide  or  an 
infanticide  of  her.  Recently  a  poor  woman  hanged 
herself  in  Switzerland  because  she  believed  her- 
self pregnant  and  her  neighbors  shared  this  be- 
lief and  made  her  the  target  of  their  respectable 
vituperations  and  "moral"  persecutions.  When 
the  suicide  was  examined,  her  pregnancy  proved 
to  have  been  only  imagined  !  She  died  as  a  vic- 
tim of  nature-disdaining  vulgarity,  and  her  mur- 
derers were  the  pious,  moralizing  clergy.  The 
corpses  of  unfortunate  women  which  you  take 
from  the  water,  the  remains  of  murdered  chil- 
dren which  you  find  in  sewers,  the  bodies  of 
despairing  mothers  whom  you  drag  to  the  gallows 
— these  are  the  witnesses  of  your  pious  humanity 
that  builds  prisons  instead  of  lying-in  hospitals, 
and  that  would  have  hell  make  foundling-houses 
superfluous.  In  Paris  foundlings  are  taken  care 
of  as  "  enfant  $  de  la  patrie  /"   in  New  York,  for 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  TJ 

instance,  the  " enfant s  de  la  patrie"  are  deposited 
in  the  gutters  of  the  street.  The  rich  seduce  the 
girls,  the  priests  curse  the  seduced  girls,  and  the 
seduced  girls  murder  the  sharers  of  their  poverty 
and  the  proofs  of  their  imaginary  shame.  This  is 
in  three  words  the  morality  of  our  present  hypo- 
critical society  in  these  matters. 

When  you  have  wedded  your  daughters  to  rich 
roue's,  you  welcome  their  children  with  joy ;  if 
your  family  is  increased  by  a  poor  lover,  who  is 
not  able  to  "marry,"  then  you  heap  reproaches  on 
the  mother.  The  reason  for  the  disgrace  which 
you  create  does  not  lie  therefore  in  the  act  to 
which  you  try  to  attach  it,  but  in  the  single  miser- 
able circumstance  that  you  must  support  the 
children  of  your  daughters.  But  if  this  is  the 
reason  of  your  anger,  then  why  not  have  the 
courage  to  call  it  by  its  right  name,  and  do  not  com- 
mit the  hypocrisy  of  expressing  a  pecuniary  con- 
sideration in  the  form  of  a  condemnation  of  human 
nature  in  its  most  beautiful  impulse.  You  will 
then  reach  the  conclusion  that  it  is  not  love  that 
is  to  blame,  but  the  unnatural  conditions  which 
hinder  thousands,  yes,  millions,  from  living  out 
their  natural  instincts  in  a  moral  relation. 

How  must  a  H£loi'se,who,  although  surrounded 
by  the  piety  of  the  Middle  Ages,  would  rather  be 
the  lover  than  the  legal  wife  of  Abelard — how  must 
she  appear  to  you,  coarse  fellows,  who  judge  love 
only  from  the  standpoint  of  priests,  and  mother 


78  THE  RIGHTS  OE   WOMEN 

hood  from  that  of  the  shopkeeper !  She  was  a 
great  woman,  one  of  the  greatest  women  of  his- 
tory ;  and  you,  according  to  your  ideas,  you  must 
classify  her  with  the  "  immoral,"  because  you  are 
not  human  beings,  but  priests. 

If  you  want  to  cultivate  shame,  then  base  it 
upon  the  strictest  ideas  of  true  morality ;  but  do 
not  look  for  this  morality  in  the  domain  of  your 
conventional  stupidity,  your  inhuman  unnatural- 
ness,  and  your  shameful  hypocrisy. 

It  is  not  immoral  if  a  man  and  a  woman,  even 
"unmarried"  give  themselves  up  to  true  love  ;  but 
it  is  immoral  if  an  old  roue"  marries  a  young  girl 
whom  he  knowingly  cannot  make  happy,  merely 
for  her  physical  charms. 

It  is  not  immoral  if  a  man  and  a  woman,  even 
"  unmarried,"  give  themselves  up  to  true  love  ;  but 
it  is  immoral  if  the  man  merely  uses  the  woman 
for  the  satisfaction  of  his  lust,  without  giving 
dignity  to  the  relation  by  real  affection  or  taking 
his  share  of  the  responsibility  in  the  fate  of  the 
loving  one. 

It  is  not  immoral  if  a  woman  unites  herself  with 
the  man  whom  she  loves  against  the  wish  of  an 
other ;  but  it  is  immoral  if  she  becomes  the  wife  o 
a  man  whom  she  does  not  love,  because  anothei 
wishes  it.* 

*  How  far  "morality"  can  go  astray  in  such  cases  where 
personal  liberty  and  free  inclination  submit  to  a  "higher  will  * 
is  shown  among  other  things  in  the  "  New  Helolse  "  by  Rou.- 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  79 

It  is  not  immoral  to  get  tired  of  a  legal  husband 
upon  closer  acquaintance  and  to  conceive  a  new 
love  for  another  man ;  but  it  is  immoral  to  con- 
tinue, or  to  be  obliged  to  continue,  the  old  rela- 
tion notwithstanding  this  new  love. 

It  is  not  immoral  to  consider  "chastity"  in 
itself  just  as  much  of  a  stupidity  as  starvation  in 
itself ;  but  it  is  immoral  to  carry  "  unchastity  "  to 
the  point  of  excess. 

It  is  not  immoral  to  persuade  a  woman  to  yield 
herself,  but  it  is  immoral  to  offer  her  nothing  as 
the  prize  of  her  devotion  but  a  feigned  love. 

In  short,  it  is  immoral  to  disregard  the  equal 
rights  of  the  other  sex ;  to  abuse  it  for  selfish 
ends ;  to  falsify  or  to  confuse  the  ends  of  nature  ; 
to  degrade  the  sexual  relation  simply  to  a  means- 
for  frivolously  satisfying  the  senses  or  for  low 
speculations  ;  to  disfigure  the  beauty  of  sexual  love 
by  priestly  nonsense;  to  pollute  true  sentiment  by 
coarse  hypocrisy.  Be  ashamed  of  these  immorali- 
ties and  you  will  no  longer  need  atiy  other  shame  ! 

There  is,  indeed,  another  kind  of  shame,  which 
ought,  however,  not  to  bear  this  name,  since  no 
moral  flavor  attaches  to  it.  It  is  that  delicate  shy- 
ness which  the  virgin  feels  when  she  is  to  step  be- 

seau.  Her  chief  virtue  consisted  in  the  disgusting  and  unpoetic 
immorality  of  marrying  a  man  entirely  indifferent  to  her  from 
filial  "  duty,"  and  of  generating  children  with  him  under  the 
very  eyes  of  her  lover,  whom  she  sacrifices  to  "  duty."  Shame 
on  this  "  moral "  prostitution!  ^ „ 


80  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

yond  the  boundary  of  virginity,  as  well  as  that 
feminine  reserve  which  strives  to  hide  or  to  guard 
her  charms.  This  "  shame  "  is  either  a  natural  con- 
sequence of  an  emotional  affection  upon  entering  a 
new  life,  or  it  is  the  expression  of  an  unconscious 
policy  in  love  that  is  chary  with  its  charms  in 
order  not  to  depreciate  or  to  profane  them.  Or  it 
may  also  be  the  unconscious  expression  of  a  feel- 
ing which  tells  a  woman  that  nature  has  not  given 
her  the  initiative  of  love.  Finally,  it  may  be  the 
expression  of  modesty  which  fears  that  she  can- 
not come  up  to  the  high  expectations  which  the 
enthusiastic  man  has  of  the  charms  of  his  beloved. 
This  u  shame,"  which  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
consciousness  or  the  fear  of  seeing  something  im- 
proper disclosed,  is  an  ornament  to  every  woman, 
and  its  absence  is  a  proof  of  dulness  and  coarse- 
ness. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS,  8 1 


MARRIAGE. 

Is  rnarriage  a  relation  which  is  or  can  be  im- 
posed by  the  State,  by  religion,  by  the  police,  by 
the  clergy,  by  relatives,  or  by  any  other  power  ? 

Everybody  will  answer :  It  is  the  union  of  a 
man  and  a  woman  resulting  from  spontaneous  af- 
fection. Therefore  only  each  particular  couple 
that  enters  into  such  a  union  carries  the  motive 
and  the  aim  of  the  union  within  itself,  and  no 
power  in  the  world  has  the  right  to  control  this 
motive  or  to  stipulate  what  the  aim  shall  be. 
Only  liberty  in  entering  into  and  liberty  in  dis- 
solving marriage  can  secure  its  character,  deter- 
mine its  moral  nature,  and  guarantee  the  attain- 
ment of  its  end. 

The  chief  end  of  marriage  can  be  expressed  in 
three  words  :  Propagation,  Love,  Friendship. 

We  have  seen  in  the  chapter  on  Morality  in 
what  respect  man  differs  from  the  animal  in  the 
gratification  of  his  natural  needs.  This  difference 
refers  not  only  to  the  gratification  of  the  sexual 
need,  but  also  to  its  consequences :  propagation. 
The  animal  propagates  unconsciously,  and  sepa- 
rates itself  from  its  young  just  as  unconsciously 
as  soon  as  they  are  able  to  provide  their  own 


82  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

food.  And  even  this  unconscious  care  emanates 
chiefly  only  from  the  mother,  while  the  male 
generally  concerns  himself  neither  for  the  mother 
nor  the  young  after  copulation.  The  well-known 
passionate  love  of  animals  for  their  young  is  at 
an  end  from  the  time  when  the  latter  no  longer 
need  aid,  and  old  and  young  no  longer  know  each 
other. 

The  egotism  and  coarse  conception  of  men 
would  fain  have  transferred  this  mode  of  propa- 
gation also  to  the  human  race.  That  would 
mean  in  other  words:  we  want  to  be  animals  in 
this  respect,  not  human  beings.  While  the  ani- 
mal sees  in  the  female  only  an  instrument  for 
procreation,  the  woman  is  to  the  man  only  the 
complement  of  his  being,  his  second  ego,  in  and 
with  whom  he  begins  to  live  his  complete  life  ; 
while  in  the  animal  a  merely  temporary  affection 
secures  the  indispensable  aid  for  the  rearing  of  the 
young,  children  are  to  men  a  desirable  continua- 
tion of  their  own  personality  through  whom  they 
establish  their  continuity  beyond  death  with  the 
infinite  stream  of  humanity.  And  through  this 
ethical  continuity  and  the  ethical  consequences  of 
sexual  intermingling  there  arises  between  man 
and  woman,  between  father  and  mother,  between 
parents  and  children,  that  relation  which  we  desig- 
nate by  the  word  family. 

Thu?  with  regard  to  propagation,  family  life  at 
once  makes  an  essential  distinction  between  man 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  83 

ctud  the  animal.  To  want  to  destroy  the  family 
is  either  a  great  error  or  a  great  vulgarity.  It  is 
founded  in  nature,  and  when  viewed  in  the  light 
of  its  ethical  import  it  lays  the  foundation  of  the 
most  beautiful,  the  truest,  and  the  surest  human 
happiness.  The  animal  has  no  family  because  it 
has  no  reason  ;  reason  cannot  desire  to  destroy 
the  family,  because  it  would  thereby  only  re-estab- 
lish crude  nature,  that  is,  destroy  morality  and, 
with  morality,  itself. 

But  the  more  the  importance  of  the  family  is 
appreciated  by  society  and  by  the  individual,  the 
higher  and  nobler  the  conception  of  it  is,  the 
more  must  its  fundamental  condition  be  recog- 
nized as  that  liberty  which  alone  admits  of  com- 
plete harmony,  of  true  attachment,  of  sincere 
union  between  man  and  woman.  Nothing  must 
be  allowed  to  influence  the  choice  except  spon- 
taneous affection  ;  nothing  must  stand  in  the  way 
of  a  separation  where  this  affection,  and  with  it 
the  desire  of  a  union,  is  wanting.  The  family  is 
inconceivable  without  real  marriage,  marriage  is 
inconceivable  without  love,  and  love  can  no 
longer  be  distinguished  from  prostitution  when 
the  free  bond  of  the  union  is  vitiated  by  compul- 
sion. If  propagation,  to  return  to  this  point,  is 
to  have  an  ethical  significance  and  ethical  conse- 
quences, it  must  not  proceed  on  the  plane  of 
bestial  association,  but  just  as  little  in  false  or 
forced    relationships      Every   child    that   springs 


84  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

from  a  union  which  would  have  ceased  had  not 
external  considerations  or  binding  fetters  held  it 
together,  transmits  the  curse  of  the  misfortune 
and  of  the  immorality  to  the  next  generation. 

As  a  second  end  of  marriage,  which  we  must 
at  the  same  time  call  its  origin,  I  designate  love. 
I  shall  spare  myself  the  trouble  of  combating 
those  philosophers  who  would  deny  the  existence 
of  love.  At  the  same  time  I  do  not  content  my- 
self with  conceiving  of  love  only  in  its  romantic 
form,  and  I  do  not  care  to  construct  a  corner- 
stone of  the  moral  order  of  things  from  an  intox- 
ication of  the  senses  or  of  the  imagination.  I 
shall  let  the  happiness  which  accompanies  this  in- 
toxication stand  in  all  its  beauty  wherever  it  is 
present ;  but  we  must  place  its  substance  on  a  basis 
of  reason,  and  make  a  consciousness  of  the  intox- 
ication. This  is  accomplished  by  tracing  love  to 
man's  perfect  consciousness  of  his  sovereignty  in 
the  world,  of  his  worth  and  his  liberty,  and  then, 
moreover,  to  the  true  recognition  of  the  advan- 
tages of  external  and  internal  beauty  which  satisfy 
not  only  a  sensual  but,  at  the  same  time,  an  ethical 
and  aesthetical  need  in  the  lovers.  Lovers  must 
come  to  be  to  each  other  that  Avhich  men  have 
hitherto  placed  above  the  clouds  by  the  words 
"god"  and  "goddess;"  yes,  they  must  become 
even  more  to  each  other,  namely,  the  realized  ideal 
of  their  moral  conceptions  and  of  their  sense  of 
beauty.     If  they  learn  to  seek  and  to  appreciate 


AND    THE    SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  85 

each  other  in  this  sense,  love  will  become  a  last- 
ing enthusiasm,  and  the  words  of  Schiller,  which 
unfortunately  apply  to  most  of  our  present  rela- 
tionships, will  have  become  untrue  : 

With  that  sweetest  holiday 

Must  the  May  of  life  depart  ; 

With  the  cestus  loosed — away 

Flies  illusion  from  the  heart.* 
♦ 

On  the  contrary,  the  illusion  will  become  a  beau- 
tiful truth.  Every  real  love  of  noble,  intelligent 
people  will  only  be  confirmed  by  sexual  union. 
The  so-called  '•  nuptial  bed  "  is  the  grave  of  false, 
but  the  ark  of  covenant  of  true,  love. 

The  want  of  love  always  consists  either  in  moral 
degeneration  or  in  a  wrong  choice.  Let  men  be 
educated  for  love,  and  leave  to  them  the  liberty 
to  annul  a  wrong  choice  by  separation,  and  true 
marriage  will  crowd  out  a  thousand  relationships 
which  now  are  nothing  but  institutions  for  the 
perpetuation  of  misery  and  prostitution. 

Love  is  called  "blind."  To  what  purpose? 
Supposing  it  could  be  demonstrated  that  the  pas- 
sionate attachment  of  two  people  was  an  illusion 
which  augmented  and  beautified  their  respective 
qualities,  the  happiness  which  they  would  mutu- 
ally prepare  for  each  other  would  not  therefore 

*  Ach  !     des  Lebens  schonste  Feier 
Endigt  auch  den  Lebensmai ; 
Mit  dem  Gurtel,  mit  dem  Schleier 
Reisst  der  schone  Wahn  entzwei. 


86  THE   RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

be  destroyed.  But  by  their  conception  of  each 
other  they  at  all  events  show  their  ability  to 
form  a  certain  ideal ;  and  if  in  the  course  of  their 
acquaintance  it  becomes  apparent  that  they  have 
not  reached  this  ideal,  their  experience  may  serve 
as  a  guide  which  will  enable  them  to  find  it  all 
the  surer  in  another  relationship. 

As  for  the  rest,  many  an  argument  might  be 
brought  forward  against  the  blindness  of  love.  I 
should  be  much  inclined  to  credit  it  with  clear- 
sightedness. The  loving  interest  sharpens  the 
vision  for  the  detection  and  appreciation  of  quali- 
ties which  the  indifferent  person  would  overlook 
or  fail  to  appreciate.  Thus  above  all  those  are 
blind  who  charge  love  with  blindness,  and  it  is 
only  necessary  to  view  men  from  the  standpoint 
of  love  in  order  to  secure  to  them  the  recognition 
and  appreciation  of  their  qualities. 

But  the  question  will  be  raised :  Will  love,  after 
all  these  concessions  are  made  to  it,  be  sufficient 
to  fill  out  an  entire  life  ?  Can  it,  even  if  it  out- 
lasts the  honeymoon  and  the  time  which  might 
suffice  to  test  the  possibility  of  an  illusion, — can  it 
satisfy  the  heart  so  long  that  its  value  will  not  be 
lost  in  the  need  for  change  which  would  finally 
lead  to  an  anarchy  of  the  affections? 

This  question  brings  us  to  the  third  word  with 
which  I  designated  the  end  and  substance  of  mar- 
riage— to  friendship. 

Of  course  I  hold  that  love  in  marriage  changes 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  $7 

from  a  state  of  passionate  attachment  into  a  con- 
dition of  quiet  friendship ;  but  at  the  same  time, 
I  maintain  that  true  friendship  exists  only  in  mar- 
riage. 

The  question  whether  between  persons  of  the 
same  sex  real  friendship  is  possible  has  never,  so 
far  as  I  know,  been  met  with  a  doubt.  And  yet 
I  am  very  much  inclined  to  answer  it  with  a  down- 
right no. 

All  sympathies  and  antipathies  of  men  are 
founded  in  egoism  in  the  good  sense.  Self-inter- 
est is  the  natural  guide  in  all  steps,  and  there  is 
no  danger  in  acknowledging  this  when  a  correct, 
general  principle  is  added  to  this  guide  as  its  test, 
that  is,  when  the  pursuit  of  self-interest  is  placed 
under  moral  control. 

The  duration  and  value  of  a  union  between  two 
people  depends  entirely  on  whether  these  persons 
are  fitted  to  conform  to  their  respective  egoisms, 
that  is,  to  mutually  satisfy  their  needs,  be  these 
needs  intellectual,  emotional,  or  physical.  But 
now  it  is  clear,  and  experience  confirms  it  every 
day,  that  two  persons  of  the  same  sex,  even  if  in 
individual  qualities  they  attract  or  agree  with  each 
other,  can  yet  never  in  the  long-run  have  in  all 
things  the  same  interests,  but  will  sooner  or  later 
in  some  case  or  other  show  themselves  as  compet- 
itors. Individual  examples  to  the  contrary  occur 
only  where  exaggeration  and  exaltation  sacrifice 
the  personal  interests  of  the  different  persons  to 


88  THE  RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

an  abstraction  of  friendship,  or  where  circum- 
stances keep  both  persons  at  a  certain  distance 
from  each  other,  so  that  the  competition  of  the 
respective  interests  finds  no  point  of  conflict.  If  a 
conflict  and  an  estrangement  are  to  be  avoided  in 
a  constant  living  together,  one  person  must  so  far 
give  up  his  independence  that  the  preponderance 
of  the  other  changes  into  domineering  guidance. 
But  if  this  is  the  case,  the  true  conception  of  the 
friendship  which  is  to  exist  between  persons  of 
the  same  sex  is  lost. 

Among  men  it  is  now  ambition,  now  partisan- 
ship, now  the  friction  q(  character,  now  a  differ- 
ence in  principles,  etc.;  among  women  it  is  gener- 
ally competition  in  love,  jealousy,  vanity,  etc., 
which  causes'the  rupture  of  friendships.  (Exam- 
ples of  friendship  among  women  are  hardly  ever 
to  be  found  except  with  old  maids  who  have  re- 
signed all  human  impulses,  especially  sexual  com- 
petition.) But  these  points  of  collision  disappear 
entirely  by  the  side  of  the  all-conclusive  fact  that 
persons  of  the  same  sex  do  not  at  all  possess,  and 
cannot  possess,  the  qualities  which  enable  them  to 
satisfy  each  other  entirely,  to  complement  each 
other  entirely,  and,  I  might  say,  to  let  the  cogs  of 
their  egoism  work  exactly  into  each  other.  The 
man  can  never  fill  the  place  of  a  woman  to  the  man, 
the  woman  can  never  fill  that  of  a  man  to  the  woman, 
but  the  man  can  fill  the  place  of  a  woman  to  the 
woman,  and  the  woman  the  place  of  a  man  to  the 


AND    THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  8$ 

man.  The  inadequacy  of  friendship  among  per- 
sons  of  the  same  sex  the  Greeks  have  shown  most 
strikingly  in  their  attempt  to  complete,  as  it  were, 
the  friendships  into  which  the  abnormal  taste  of 
the  times  had  led  the  men  by  the  unnatural  intro- 
duction of  the  feminine  element  of  "love."  Ac- 
customed to  look  upon  women  as  inferior  beings, 
but  not  able  to  withdraw  themselves  entirely  from 
the  acknowledgment  of  the  feminine  element,  they 
transferred  it,  as  it  seems,  partly  to  youths  in  or- 
der to  sanction  its  acknowledgment  through  the 
male  sex.  And  while  thereby  unconsciously  de- 
grading woman,  they  avenged  her  at  the  same 
time  in  themselves,  by  their  endeavor  to  complete, 
to  idealize  themselves  by  the  feminine  element. 

The  two  sexes  are  designed  to  complement  each 
other,  to  perfect  the  human  being  in  each.  This 
completion  is  the  bond  of  true  friendship ;  and  if, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  writer  is  not  entirely  wrong 
who  says,  "  One  man  and  one  woman  are  togeth- 
er equal  to  two  angels,  two  women  are  together 
equal  to  two  devils ; "  Rousseau,  on  the  other  hand, 
hits  the  truth  exactly  when  he  says,  "  A  man's  best 
friend  is  his  wife."  I  admit  that  the  psychological 
interest  and  common  ideal  aims  can  bring  about 
a  relationship  between  men  which  deserves  the 
name  of  friendship  ;  but,  according  to  our  views, 
perfect  friendship  demands  complete  devotion, 
complete  confidence,  and  mutual  indispensable- 
ness,  which  exists  as  little  among  men  as  among 


90  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

women,  and  is  only  conditioned  by  a  difference  of 
sex. 

Also  with  regard  to  the  external  development 
of  character  the  difference  of  the  two  sexes  is  very 
well  adapted  to  establish  a  relation  of  friendship. 
While  the  man  as  the  representative  of  strength 
impresses  the  woman,  the'  clinging  nature  of 
woman  seems  made  for  the  purpose  of  subordi- 
nating herself  to  the  male  predominance  without 
losing  her  personality  or  lapsing  into  servile  depen- 
dence. On  the  other  hand,  man  will  make  conces- 
sions to  the  weak  woman  which  he  would  never 
make  to  a  rival  in  strength.  Only  man  and  woman 
can  unite  a  proper  subordination  with  a  just  coor- 
dination in  a  natural  way. 

But  woman  is  not  only  clinging,  she  is  also  faith- 
ful, sincere,  and  sacrificing.  The  woman  grows 
into  the  relation  with  her  friend  with  her  whole 
soul ;  and  where  the  uncouth  egoism  or  the  polem- 
ical nature  of  the  man  would  allow  a  break  to  ap- 
pear, the  love  of  the  woman  knows  at  once  how  to 
mend  it.  The  woman  is  the  uniting  element  in 
the  formation,  and  the  conciliatory  element  in  the 
preservation,  of  the  relationship.  The  woman  is 
not  only  a  perfect  friend,  she  even  does  not  cease 
to  be  one  unless  the  man  makes  the  friendship 
altogether  impossible.  If  I  must  bethink  myself 
whether  I  have  ever  had  perfect  friends  among 
men,  I  am  on  the  other  hand  quite  certain  that  I 
have  found  perfect  friends  among  women. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  9 1 

Since  we  are  here  speaking  of  marriage,  it  is 
self-evident  that  friendship  can  be  understood 
only  as  one  of  the  forms  or  modifications  of  love. 
It  is  love  without  the  passion  of  love  ;  it  is  love 
without  sensuality  ;  it  is  benevolence,  confidence, 
and  attachment  ushered  in  and  confirmed  by  sex- 
ual devotion  and  union.  It  combines,  therefore,  I 
might  say,  at  the  same  time  the  greatest  absence 
of  egoism  with  the  satisfaction  of  egoism,  and  is 
thus  perfectly  adapted  to  establish  a  relationship 
for  the  whole  life.  It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from 
this,  however,  that  a  true  marriage  necessarily  can 
only  exist  in  a  union  for  life. 

Having  established  the  three  chief  aims  and  re- 
quirements of  marriage,  we  have  still  to  refute  one 
point  that  refers  to  a  peculiar  right  which  men 
claim  to  possess  over  women — a  right  which,  if 
it  did  exist,  would  make  every  marriage  impos- 
sible. I  mean  the  pretended  right  of  sensual  ex- 
travagance. 

We  have  seen  the  degeneracy  of  the  male  sex 
with  regard  to  love.  Woman  has  remained  the 
vestal  who  has  preserved  the  fire  of  love  in  its 
purity,  while  man  has  smothered  it  in  the  smoke 
of  sensual  passion.  While  man  in  general  is 
always  sensually  disposed,  even  without  feeling 
the  least  higher  interest  for  the  woman  who  serves 
him,  the  passion  of  woman  is  generally  awakened 
only  by  love ;  and  giving  herself  up  without  at- 
tachment is  entirely  foreign  to  the  true  and  noble 


92  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

woman.  With  her,  the  passion  does  not  attach 
merely  to  the  sex  as  with  man,  but  at  the  same 
time  to  the  person.  Excellent  women  have  with- 
out reserve  told  me  their  thoughts  on  this  point. 
They  admit  the  possibility  that  in  an  unguarded 
moment  even  a  stranger,  by  an  impressive  beauty 
and  manliness,  could  place  the  woman  in  a  state 
of  sensual  excitement,  but  that  she  would  still  be 
far  from  yielding  to  this  excitement  even  in  such 
a  case,  and  that  in  any  case  the  relation  could  not 
be  at  an  end  for  the  woman  and  her  wish  fulfilled 
by  mere  physical  yielding.  This  was  not  a  mere 
matter  of  education,  but  had  its  foundation  in  the 
nature  of  woman. 

Woman  is  sensual  when  she  loves,  while  man, 
as  a  rule,  loves  only  when  he  is  sensual.  The 
question  now  is  simply  this  :  Is  there  an  essential 
difference  of  nature  or  not?  Is  there  a  peculiar 
need  for  sensuality  in  man  aside  from  love,  and, 
therefore,  a  peculiar  right  for  him,  or  not  ?  Or  can 
it  be  demanded  of  him  that  he  should,  like  woman, 
restrain  his  sensuality  within  the  limits  of  love  f 
There  are  points  to  be  considered  here  upon  which 
a  great  deal  depends,  but  on  which  no  settled 
views  seem  as  yet  to  have  been  developed,  mainly 
for  the  reason  that  either  hypocrisy  or  egotism 
would  not  lay  them  open  for. discussion.  I, how- 
ever, have  made  up  my  mind  to  discuss  all  human 
Questions  in  a  human   manner.     Only  vulgarity 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  93 

and  a  bad  conscience  can  fear  being  led  too  far  in 
such  a  discussion. 

The  general  opinion  amounts  to  this,  that  the 
man  has  greater  sensual  needs,  especially  a  greater 
need  for  change,  therefore  also  a  greater  right  to 
satisfy  it  than  the  woman.  I  have  even  heard 
intellectual  men  who  were  not  by  education  es- 
pecially disposed  towards  sensuality,  and  who  in 
every  way  distinguished  themselves  by  moral 
aspirations,  express  themselves  to  the  effect  that 
in  the  society  of  the  future  man  could  not  be  re- 
stricted to  a  single  woman,  but  would  have  to  be 
granted  the  liberty  of  living  with  a  certain  num- 
ber of  women — who,  however,  need  not  live  to- 
gether— in  a  simultaneous  marriage  relation. 

So  the  man  is  to  be  a  sort  of  human  rooster,  as 
it  were,  who  keeps  a  court  of  human  hens. 

If  women  were  hens,  it  is  not  at  all  to  be  doubt- 
ed that  the  roosters  would  assemble  in  sufficient 
numbers  about  them.  But  the  first  difficulty  with 
which  we  meet  here  is  the  opposition  of  the  zvomen. 
If  we  inquire  among  all  women,  not  a  single  one 
will  be  found  who  would  be  willing  to  share  a  be- 
loved man  with  another  woman,  except  she  had 
been  deprived  of  her  reason  by  a  silly  fanaticism, 
as  is  the  case  with  the  Mormons.  The  Count  of 
Gleichen  would  in  our  time  have  to  narrow  down 
his  broad  nuptial  couch  to  one  half  its  dimensions. 
Only  very  superior  and  imposing  manly  personali- 
ties, as  for  instance  Goethe,  have  succeeded  in 


94  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

making  several  women  at  the  same  time  partially 
happy,  or  in  silencing  in  them  the  opposition  of 
rivalry,  which  by  no  means  is  equivalent  to  assent. 
Woman  is  guided  by  the  proper  feeling  that  a  real 
marriage  relation  can  exist  only  between  two  per- 
sons. And  if  the  woman,  in  accordance  with  this 
feeling,  resents  the  proposal  to  share  her  lover  with 
other  women,  she  only  makes  use  of  her  right ;  and 
in  formulating  this  right  she  will  ask  men  this 
question  :  Which  one  of  you  would  be  willing  to  be 
required  to  share  his  beloved  with  other  men  ? 

Whatever  a  man  or  a  woman  possesses  of  love, 
confidence,  and  devotion  can  be  entirely  bestowed 
upon  one  person.  It  is  impossible  to  simultane- 
ously love  two  men  or  two  women  truly.  A  man 
can  have  twenty  mistresses  at  the  same  time,  but 
not  two  wives.  But  woman  has  a  right  to  be  a 
wife,  she  has  a  right  to  demand  that  everything 
should  be  given  her  which  she  herself  offers,  and 
it  is  to  misunderstand  her  right,  no  less  than  the  na- 
ture of  marriage,  when  one  expects  a  woman  to 
be  content  to  lie  in  wait,  as  it  were,  with  her  love, 
till  her  lover  has  made  the  round  among  colleagues, 
and  her  turn  for  a  visit  has  come. 

Woman  does  not  ask  for  several  men,  but  one 
she  wishes  to  possess  wholly.  Only  degenerate 
women,  inured  to  immorality  by  education  and 
surroundings,  or  prompted  by  an  abnormal  physi- 
cal constitution,  can  entertain  relations  with  sev- 
eral men  at  the  same  time,  or  even  follow  the  foot- 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  95 

steps  of  a  Messalina,  of  whom  Juvenal  says  that 
she  was  wont  to  return  home  from  the  haunts  of 
lust  "worn  out  but  not  satisfied."  If,  on  the 
ground  of  their  sensual  capacity,  men  would  estab- 
lish a  right  to  have  "conjugal  relations"  with  sev- 
eral women  at  the  same  time,  they  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  become  convinced  by  Parisian  Messalinas 
that  women  could  insist  on  the  right  to  have  fifty 
husbands,  where  a  man  would  ask  but  for  five 
wives. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  they  could  be  convinced 
by  the  example  of  noble  women  who  have  given 
themselves  up  to  love  in  full  freedom  without  re- 
gard for  the  judgment  of  the  world,  that  it  is  not 
a  need  of  the  feminine  sex  to  have  several  men  at 
their  disposal  at  the  same  time.  Ninon,  George 
Sand,  and  others  have  not  been  content  with  one 
love  relation,  but  they  have  never  loved  two  men 
at  the  same  time  ;  *.*.,  they  have  never  stood  in 
conjugal  relations  with  two  men  at  once.  They 
kept  every  relationship  pure  until  it  had  outlived 
itself,  and  then  entered  into  a  new  one,  i.e.,  into 
a  new  marriage.  And  they  would  surely  have 
confined  themselves  to  a  single  man, -had  they 
found  one  who  had  possessed  the  qualities  that 
could  have  interested  such  extraordinary  women 
and  made  them  happy  for  life. 

We  can,  therefore,  consider  it  as  an  established 
fact  that  the  woman,  just  as  she  does  not  crave 
several  husbands  at  the  same  time,  will  also  not 


g6  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

tolerate  a  rival  in  the  marriage  relation.  Could 
it,  therefore,  be  doubtful  whether  a  man  must  re- 
strict himself  to  one  wife  at  a  time,  woman  would 
be  the  one  to  decide.  It  would  be  contrary  to 
reason  to  assume  that  the  nature  of  man  required 
several  women  at  the  same  time,  while  it  was  the 
nature  of  woman,  on  the  other  hand,  to  treat  the 
removal  of  this  need  as  a  vital  question.  Where 
there  have  been  or  still  are  nations  among  whom 
the  husband,  beside  his  legal  wife,  kept  concubines 
(for  instance  among  savages,  the  ancients,  and 
Mussulmen),  there  we  find  this  abuse  founded 
upon  the  disqualification  and  degradation  of 
woman,  who  will  submit  to  it  only  so  long  as  she 
has  not  attained  to  a  consciousness  of  herself. 
Such  a  degradation  has  the  same  origin  as  that  of 
the  women  of  India,  who  are  obliged  to  throw 
themselves  into  the  flames  in  honor  of  their  dead 
husbands.  I  come  to  the  conclusion,  therefore, 
that  the  claims  of  men  to  variety  are  founded  en- 
tirely upon  past  conditions  and  past  education, 
and  that  woman  will  have  to  recall  them  within 
the  proper  limits.  The  man  who,  on  the  plane  of 
our  civilization,  desires  several  wives  at  the  same 
time  comes,  therefore, 

i)  into  opposition  with  the  will  of  each  one  of 
them,  and  can  attain  his  end  only  through  deceit 
and  concealment ; 

2)  he  violates  justice  ; 

3)  he  offends  the  dignity  of  woman  ;  and, 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  97 

4)  he  destroys  marriage,  and  with  it  the  moral 
element  in  the  relation  of  the  sexes. 

How,  then,  secure  marriage  and  morality?  How 
remove  the  objection  of  male  desire,  which  under 
present  conditions  is  always  striving  to  overstep 
the  boundaries  of  morality? 

The  attainment  of  this  end  cannot  be  hoped  for, 
after  all  that  has  hitherto  been  considered,  with- 
out fulfilling  the  following  requirements: 

1)  Guarding  youth  from  secret  vices  by  careful 
education,  adequate  occupation,  and  close  atten- 
tion, so  that  the  lustful  instinct  may  not  be  cul- 
tivated abnormally  early,  and  undermine  the  ca- 
pacity for  sexual  love. 

2)  Early  marriage  of  youths  and  maidens,  in 
order  that  the  want  of  opportunity  to  satisfy  the 
awakened  sexual  needs  may  not  drive  them  into 
wrong  ways.  It  is  here  to  be  observed  that  the 
premature  development  of  sexual  desire  is  nothing 
but  the  consequence  of  our  bad  education  hith- 
ertOj  and  that  the  young  man  has  no  sexual  needs 
to  satisfy  previous  to  his  marriage.  Thus  he  is, 
on  entering  marriage,  not  yet  addicted  to  licen- 
tiousness, his  first  sexual  gratification  coincides 
with  his  first  love,  and  thus  he  is  led  back  to  the 
plane  of  morality  on  which  that  portion  of  the 
feminine  sex  which  has  not  fallen  a  prey  to  pros- 
titution has  remained.  The  gratification  of  the 
sexual  instinct   is  thus  wholly  placed  within   the 


98  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

marrtagt  relation.     But  in  order  that   it  become 
possible  to  uphold  this  moral  barrier,  we  must 

3)  not  restrict  the  liberty  of  marriage  by  tedious 
formalities  and  impeding  conditions.  The  agree- 
ment of  the  lovers  and  a  notice  concerning  their 
union  must  suffice  for  the  forming  of  marriage. 
The  priest  does  not  make  marriage,  the  law  does 
not  make  marriage,  the  parents  do  not  make 
marriage,  the  magistrate  does  not  make  marriage, 
but  love  and  the  agreement  of  the  lovers  make  it. 
Let  marriage,  therefore,  be  made  dependent  on 
nothing  save  the  conditions  for  its  existence. 

4)  The  liberty  which  prevails  in  the  contracting 
of  marriage  must  also  prevail  in  the  dissolution  of 
marriage.  Whether  the  object  of  marriage  has 
been  attained  can  only  be  decided  by  the  judg- 
ment of  those  who  have  contracted  it.  If  they  do 
not  feel  satisfied,  to  attempt  to  preserve  it  by 
force  means  to  destroy  it  by  force.  By  this  force 
the  very  thing  would  again  be  introduced  which 
is  chiefly  to  be  prevented,  namely,  dissipation 
outside  of  marriage.  The  married  do  not  exist  for 
the  sake  of  marriage,  but  marriage  exists  for  the 
sake  of  the  married.  The  bond  must,  therefore, 
be  severed  when  it  has  become  a  fetter.  What 
is  the  object  of  marriage  ?  As  we  have  seen  :  pro- 
pagation, love,  friendship.  And  to  this  you  want 
to  force  us  by  making  separation  more  difficult  ? 
Strange  lunacy ! 

5)  State  education  of  the  children.     When  pa- 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  99 

rents  are  fettered  to  the  marriage  relation  longer 
than  perhaps  during  the  first  years,  by  the  care 
for  the  support  and  education  of  the  children, 
there  arises,  especially  in  disordered  economic 
conditions,  either  the  danger  that  they  will  fulfil 
their  paternal  duties  at  the  price  of  marriage  by 
remaining  together  contrary  to  their  inclinations, 
or  that,  in  case  of  a  separation,  the  burden  of  sup- 
porting the  children  will  fall  on  one  party  only, 
or,  finally,  that  this  support  will  turn  out  to  the 
disadvantage  of  the  children.  If  the  parents  have 
sufficient  means  to  dispense  with  the  assistance  of 
the  State,  they  will  of  course,  even  without  it,  be 
secured  against  the  danger  of  sacrificing  their  love 
or  their  liberty  to  their  cares ;  but  most  of  them 
are  without  means,  and  the  State  certainly  loses 
nothing  if  by  bearing  the  cost  of  education  it  buys 
of  them  the  opportunity  to  rear  moral  and  happy 
citizens  instead  of  immoral  and  unhappy  ones.  So 
long,  however,  as  the  State  has  not  reached  the 
point  where,  as  a  last  resort,  it  secures  an  educa- 
tion to  all  children,  it  is  self-evident  that  with  the 
liberty  to  dissolve  marriage  ad  libitum  must  re- 
main the  common  obligation  of  the  parents  to 
take  upon  themselves  the  education  and  support 
of  their  children. 

The  objections  and  doubts  which  will  be  raised 
against  these  requirements  are  easily  to  be  fore- 
seen, especially  since,  in  judging  of  the  prerequi- 
sites of   a    future  development    of   social    condi 


IOO  THE   RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

tions,  the  opponent  is  but  too  ready  to  take  exist- 
ing conditions  as  a  foundation  for  his  supposi- 
tions. In  the  first  place,  a  "  moral  "  solicitude 
will  be  -expressed  that  the  liberty  of  forming  or 
dissolving  a  marriage  relation  at  pleasure  will  in- 
volve people  in  the  danger  of  using  marriage 
merely  as  a  means  for  variety  in  the  satisfaction 
of  their  desires.  Unions  will  be  made  to-day 
and  unmade  to-morrow,  etc.  Granted  that  such 
a  supposition  could  come  true,  we  need  only  ask 
ourselves  the  question  whether  the  moral  condi- 
tion of  society  could  thus  become  worse  than  it 
now  is.  As  if  the  present  society  could  run  any 
sort  of  risk  thereby !  Could  men  be  brought  to  a 
higher  and  more  disgusting  degree  of  moral  cor- 
ruption than  the  present  secret  prostitution  has 
reached,  even  if  freedom  of  lust  should  be  public- 
ly proclaimed?  Certainly  not  But  let  us  take 
another  point  of  view  Let  us  picture  to  ourselves 
a  society  consisting  throughout  of  cultured,  nor- 
mally constituted  people  who  have  been  educated 
for  liberty,  and  who  feel  themselves  secure  in  their 
chief  interests,  and  let  us  ask  ourselves  whether  in 
such  a  society  a  man  would  value  less  the  joys  of 
a  sincere  relation  with  a  beloved  woman,  and  the 
happiness  of  seeing  the  continuance  of  his  exist- 
ence secured,  as  it  were,  in  his  children,  than  the 
Turkish  satisfaction  of  sleeping  with  a  different 
concubine  every  night.  And  let  us,  moreover, 
keep  in  mind  that  the  women  of  the  future  are  not 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  IOI 

the  women  of  the  present,  and  let  us  ask  ourselves 
whether  they,  when  they  have  become  economic- 
ally independent  of  men,  will  still  consent  to,  and 
find  their  happiness  in,  being  merely  the  changing 
concubines  of  modern  Turks.  Those  married  peo- 
ple who  are  entirely  suited  to  each  other  and  are 
happy  together  will  certainly  not  separate  for  the 
mere  reason  that  they  have  full  liberty  to  do  so, 
and  those  who  are  not  happy  together  can  by  an 
unrestricted  change  certainly  not  harm  society  as 
much  as  they  now  do.  Let  us  even  consider  the 
possibility  that  a  man  might  unite  himself  with  a 
different  woman  every  year,  and  consider  whether 
it  would  be  more  immoral  for  him  to  have  had  a 
dozen  wives  or  several  hundred  mistresses  during 
his  lifetime. 

A  further  question  by  the  doubters,  who  draw 
their  conclusion  only  from  present  conditions, 
will  be  whether  the  liberty  of  changing  the  mar- 
riage relation,  and  the  support  of  the  children 
by  the  State,  would  not  have  to  result  in  the  de- 
struction of  the  family. 

The  family  is  formed  by  the  mutual  attachment 
of  the  married  couple,  and  by  their  love  for  their 
children.  This  attachment  and  this  love  are  a 
natural  need,  and  satisfy  an  interest  than  which 
there  is  none  higher  and  greater.  It  is,  therefore, 
an  entirely  false  supposition  that  parents  who 
really  love  each  other  could  find  it  to  their  inter- 


102.  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

est  to  dissolve  the  family ;  but  for  those  who  do 
not  love  each  other  the  family  has  lost  all  value 
and  all  moral  import.  It  is,  therefore,  a  service  to 
moral  society  to  make  dissolution  possible  to  such 
families.  Moreover,  the  need  of  parents  to  have 
their  children  constantly  about  them  generally 
exists  only  during  the  early  years  of  the  latter. 
Finally,  the  admission  of  the  children  into  public 
institutions  does  not  at  all  imply  their  separation 
from  the  parents  ;  the  intercourse  between  them 
must  rather  always  be  left  free  to  as  large  an  ex- 
tent as  the  purpose  of  the  institution  will  permit. 

It  is  self-evident  that  there  ought  not  to  exist 
any  compulsion  for  the  parents  to  give  their  chil- 
dren over  to  public  institutions  at  a  certain  age; 
the  State  is  only  to  offer  the  possibility  and  tr  e  op- 
portunity for  it.  But  if  that  is  done  in  the  right 
manner,  it  will  appear  that  no  compulsion  is  nec- 
essary. 

No  reasonable  person  will  imagine  that  he  can 
reach  his  ideal,  whatever  it  may  be.  In  all  efforts 
at  reform,  the  correct  principle  must  be  discov- 
ered and  established  as  an  ideal  aim.  The  near- 
est possible  approach  is  then  a  matter  of  circum- 
stances and  of  practical  possibilities.  It  is  not 
to  be  expected,  therefore,  that  the  realization  of 
the  above  requirements  will  eliminate  all  immoral 
elements  from  society.  Neither  can  there  be  the 
least   idea  of  creating  a  new  state  of  things  in  a 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  IO$ 

day,  or  of  suddenly  destroying  the  after-effects  of 
former  conditions.  It  is  sufficient  if  the  estab- 
lished principles  are  recognized  as  correct,  gain 
adherents,  and,  as  far  as  it  is  possible,  serve  the 
enlightened  minds  of  both  sexes  even  now  as  a 
guide  for  their  actions. 


104  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 


ADULTERY. 

Adherents  of  the  official  and  theological  mo- 
rality will  feel  in  duty  bound  to  grow  indignant 
over  the  claim  that  in  reality  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  adultery.  They  will  believe  that  the 
moral  world,  whose  chief  aim  hitherto  seems  to 
have  been  to  create  as  many  crimes  as  possible,  in 
order  to  be  able  to  condemn  as  much  as  possible, 
must  go  to  ruin  if  it  is  deprived  of  one  of  its  most 
piquant  Crimes.  And  nevertheless  the  world  will 
finally  have  to  submit  to  this  loss,  and  even  come 
to  realize  that  in  principle  a  more  severe  moral 
conception  is  required  for  the  destruction  of  a 
piquant  crime  than  for  the  retention  of  the  same. 

If  there  is  to  be  a  breach  of  marriage,  the 
breach  must  necessarily  extend  through  that  which 
constitutes  marriage,  which  is  its  essence,  its  con- 
dition, its  sum  and  substance.  Marriage  is  not  a 
business  contract,  it  is  a  union  of  hearts:  and  love 
is  the  condition  of  this  union.  A  breach  of  mar- 
riage must,  therefore,  be  a  breach  of  love  ;  but  love 
does  not  break  itself ;  its  breaking  is,  therefore, 
equivalent  to  a  want  of  love  ;  and  since  marriage 
without  love  is  no  longer  marriage,  so-called  adul- 
tery can  be  nothing  more  than  an  actual  proof 
that  marriage  no  longer  exists. 


AND    THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  105 

There  can  no  more  be  a  breach  of  marriage  by 
adultery  than  there  can  be  a  breach  of  night,  a 
breach  of  day,  etc.  When  day  dawns  it  is  no 
longer  night ;  and  when  night  comes  it  is  no  longer 
day.  If  one  of  the  parties  feels  an  inclination  to 
commit  what  is  called  adultery,  then  the  marriage 
is  already  broken,  even  without  the  completed  act. 
At  that  very  moment  marriage  ceases  to  exist, 
because  love  has  ceased  to  exist ;  because  the  love 
that  is  required  for  marriage  either  never  existed 
or  has  been  replaced  by  another. 

Pious  moralists  will  say  that  this  is  equivalent 
to  giving  free  rein  to  adultery  under  the  pretext 
of  the  dying  out  of  the  old  and  the  awakening 
of  a  new  love.  But  then  these  pious  people  do 
not  know  what  love  is.  Love  is  no  arbitrary 
thing.  He  who  loves  will  and  can  as  little  aban- 
don his  love  for  any  purpose  as  he  who  does  not 
love  can  enforce  a  love  for  any  purpose. 

This  is  the  very  "  moral "  perversion  of  our 
moral  ideas  that  has  until  now  made  it  possible  to 
bring  in  vogue  and  to  maintain  a  style  of  marriage 
without  the  one  requisite  of  marriage,  love.  True 
morality  demands  that  a  marriage  which  has  ceased 
to  be  a  marriage  intrinsically,  and  which  is,  there- 
fore, nothing  more  than  a  relation  of  compulsion, 
hypocrisy,  and  prostitution,  should  also  cease  to 
be  one  extrinsically.  The  hypocrisy  of  the  pious 
moralists,  however,  still  clings  with  all  its  might 
to  the  external  relation,  even  after  the  purpose, 


106  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

the  essence,  and  the  contents  have  been  lost  and 
the  inner  bond  has  been  rent  in  twain,  and  if  one 
party  withdraws  from  this  compulsion  in  order  to 
avenge  outraged  liberty  outside  of  marriage,  and 
to  bring. to  light  the  fruits  of  enforced  hypocrisy, 
this  proof  of  a  no  longer  existing  marriage  is 
called  adultery. 

Adultery  is  said  to  be  a  breach  of  faith.  But 
what  is  faith  ?  It  is  nothing  more  than  active  love. 
But  if  love  is  to  be  active,  it  must  above  all  things 
exist.  So  long  as  I  love  I  cannot  become  "  un- 
faithful ;"  and  as  soon  as  I  become  unfaithful  I  no 
longer  love.  To  assume  fidelity  as  distinct  from 
love  is  indeed  a  contradiction  in  the  premises. 
Fidelity  is  love  persisting  in  action  and  through 
action.  It  is,  therefore,  at  bottom  not  at  all  a 
duty,  but  a  frame  of  mind,  or  the  necessary  out 
come  of  this  frame  of  mind.  Fidelity  without 
this  frame  of  mind,  i.e.,  merely  physical  or  me- 
chanical abstinence,  cannot  have  the  least  moral 
value  with  regard  to  the  essence  and  aim  of  mar- 
riage. 

But  it  is  again  the  men  and  the  pious  people  who 
have  made  the  discovery  that  there  is  also  fidelity 
without  love,  without  faithful  sentiments,  i.e.,  self- 
denial  which,  for  the  sake  of  a  foreign  imaginary 
aim,  must  sacrifice  its  feelings  to  a  false  relation- 
ship. As  we  have  seen  above,  man  as  the  stronger 
had  accustomed  him  self  to  use  and  abuse,  by  wil- 
ful change  and  in  every  manner,  the  degraded 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  107 

weaker  sex,  in  whom  his  coarse  heart  could  not  yet 
find  a  lasting  charm.  Still  his  feeling  must  grad- 
ually have  brought  him  to  reflect  whether  woman 
had  not  really  a  right,  and  all  the  more  a  right,  to 
follow  his  example  the  oftener  he  set  her  that  ex- 
ample. Woman,  however,  made  no  use  of  this 
right,  because  she  continued  ever  to  love  him  in 
spite  of  his  arbitrariness,  and  this  undeserved  fidel- 
ity appeared  to  him  so  astonishing  and  difficult  that 
he  saw  in  it  an  exceptional  virtue.  And  since  he 
was  an  egotist  and  a  despot,  he  came  to  claim  this 
fidelity  which  in  the  beginning  had  excited  his 
astonishment ;  he  came  to  demand  fidelity  of  the 
woman  even  whe  1  she  no  longer  loved  him,  and 
made  a  crime  of  unfaithfulness.  We  have  also 
seen  that  among  all  savage  peoples  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  adultery  on  the  part  of  woman,  but  not 
on  the  part  of  man.  And  even  among  civilized 
nations  the  law  makes  an  essential  distinction. 
Thus  adultery  on  the  part  of  woman  is  universally 
a  ground  for  divorce,  but  adultery  on  the  part  of 
man  generally  only  in  such  cases  where  the  hus- 
band has  kept  a  eoncubine  in  the  common  dwell- 
ing. 

When  a  woman  becomes  unfaithful  her  love  has 
also  ceased.  No  man  will  contest  that.  His  own 
love,  however,  he  wishes  to  be  considered  as  inde- 
pendent of  his  fidelity,  for  he  is  as  much  a  sophist 
as  a  despot.  Goethe  CNQaforts  one  of  his  beloved 
with  the  words  : 


108  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

Heart-felt  love  (!)  unites  us  forever,  and  faithful  (!)yearnings; 
But  desire  (!)  still  craves  the  pleasures  of  change. (!)* 

Indeed,  "  faithful  love  "  by  the  side  of  "  chang- 
ing desires  "!  Interesting  phenomenon  !  In  other 
words  that  would  be  :  The  respectability  of  our 
existing  relationship,  and  some  of  your  amiable 
qualities,  move  me  from  time  to  time  to  come 
back  to  you  from  my  excursions  into  other  fields; 
if  I  again  tire  of  you  I  renew  my  excursions, 
i,e.y  I  take  for  myself  full  liberty  to  junket  about 
wherever  I  can  find  anything.  You  can  be  assured, 
my  dearest,  that  upon  my  excursions  I  never  talk 
the  least  about  "  love  "  to  any  other  woman ;  no, 
indeed  not.  I  speak  to  her  only  of  "desire."  You 
will  be  convinced,  my  child,  that  my  junketing 
can  be  charged  only  to  "  desire,"  which  you 
must  by  no  means  ever  mistake  for  "love." 
My  "  love  "  belongs  to  you  alone,  my  "  desire  " 
also  to  others,  which  others  are  satisfied  with  the 
mere  "desire"  without  "love,"  which  you  of 
course  will  not  be  able  to  understand,  but  which 
is  nevertheless  a  lie.  You  can  see  from  this,  my 
child,  how  beautifully  we  men  can  reconcile  "  fidel- 
ity "  with  "  change  "  by  separating  love  from  fidel- 
ity, and  either  make  the  beloved  one  believe  that 
her  competitors  are  mere  mistresses  or  convince 
her  that  she  herself  is  one  likewise  !  We,  however, 

*  Herzliche  Liebe  verbindet  uns  stets  und  treues  Verlangen, 
Nur  den  Wechsel  behielt  still  die  Begierde  sich  vor. 


AND    THE    SEXUAL    RELATIONS.  IO9 

protest  against  the  same  liberty  and  science  on 
your  part  in  the  name  of  all  the  principles  of 
morality ! 

Goethe,  to  be  sure,  did  not  express  this  last  sen- 
tence in  words;  but  neither  this  liberal  friend  of 
women  nor  any  other  one  would  have  declared 
himself  contented  if  his  beloved  had  surprised  him 
with  the  news  : 

Heart-felt  love  unites  us  forever  and  faithful  yearnings; 
But  desire  still  craves  the  pleasures  of  change. 

Let  us  meet  in  advance  an  objection  which  will 
be  raised  against  the  theory  of  adultery  as  here 
set  forth.  On  the  basis  of  the  old  conceptions 
it  will  be  said  that  this  theory  would  logically 
protect  and  argue  away  every  violation  of  duty. 
But  the  very  end  to  be  sought  is  the  release  of 
the  essence  and  conditions  of  marriage  from  the 
bonds  of  duty  in  which  it  has  been  chained,  and  to 
place  it  unfettered  upon  the  ground  upon  which  it 
thrives — upon  the  ground  of  spontaneous  attach- 
ment. The  present  moralists  acknowledge  mar- 
riages in  which  the  sense  of  duty  takes  the  place 
of  attachment  or  makes  it  unnecessary  ;  a  sense 
of  duty,  namely,  which  is  stimulated  or  dictated 
by  external  considerations.  But  true  liberty  and 
morality  cannot  acknowledge  such  marriages, 
for  they  are  thoroughly  immoral.  A  duty  can 
never  exist  at  the  expense  of  ethical  conceptions 


HO  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

and  ethical  aims.  But  what  is  the  aim  of  mar- 
riage ?  As  we  have  seen :  propagation,  love, 
friendship.  And  who  will  and  can  impose  that  as 
a  duty  if  our  own  free  inclination  does  not  prompt 
us  to  it  ?  There  are,  indeed,  duties  in  marriage,  but 
they  do  not  belong  here,  because  in  a  true  mar- 
riage they  are  recognized  and  practised  spontane- 
ously. With  regard  to  adultery,  they  could  at 
most  consist  in  the  avoidance  of  a  possible  danger 
into  which  at  last  every  relationship  may  drift.  To 
rashly  expose  the  affections  to  every  danger,  or  to 
wilfully  put  them  to  the  test,  would  be  to  degrade 
them  beforehand.  Who  would  throw  the  crystal 
upon  the  pavement  simply  to  see  whether  it  would 
break  ? 

If  marriage  is  released  from  its  present  bonds 
and  humanity  redeemed  from  the  vice  of  hypo- 
crisy, then  will  adultery  gradually  be  lost  sight  of, 
both  as  a  conception  and  as  a  deed.  Whoever  is  ca- 
pable of  or  feels  the  desire  to  commit  adultery  will 
simply  dissolve  the  marriage ;  whoever  has  occa- 
sion to  commit  adultery  has  simply  found  another 
person  with  whom  he  enters  into  a  new  marriage. 
Thus  adultery  will  become  a  change  of  marriage, 
especially  when  the  possibility  of  finding  a  person 
who  will  serve  as  a  mere  tool  for  an  adulterous 
act  can  no  longer  be  assumed  after  women  have 
become  independent  of  men  and  no  longer  know 
what  it  is  to  give  themselves  up  to  prostitu- 
tion.    For  in  order  to  assume  the  present  condi- 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  Ill 

tion  of  adultery  we  must  presuppose  the  present 
condition  of  prostitution. 

I  can  foresee  that  husbands  will  be  frightened 
at  this  theory.  But  I  will  give  them  a  word  of 
advice.  If  you  wish  to  keep  your  wives  from 
adultery,  see  to  it  that  they  can  love  you  ;  do  not 
charge  it  to  them  as  a  crime  if  they  love  you 
no  longer,  and  do  not  force  them  into  hypocrisy 
if  they  love  some  one  else.  Try  to  bind  them 
only  in  so  far  that  they  are  to  tell  you  openly 
when  another  has  gained  their  heart,  and  then 
part  from  them  in  friendship  as  is  becoming  to 
humane  men,  in  order  to  let  them  enter,  unhin- 
dered, a  new  relationship  which  promises  them 
greater  happiness.  If  they  can  be  sure  of  this  hu- 
mane treatment  and  this  liberty,  then  you  can 
also  generally  be  sure  that  they  will  not  deceive 
you.  But  the  man  who  wishes  to  hold  the  woman- 
in  the  bonds  of  marriage,  although  she  no  longer 
loves  him,  is  both  a  fool  and  a  barbarian,  and 
deserves  that  badge  with  which  women  are  wont 
to  distinguish  tyrannical  husbands. 

How  much  has  adultery  already  been  moralized 
over  by  priests  and  disputed  over  by  jurists  !  And 
what  barbarities  has  it  not  called  forth  !  Among 
almost  all  savages  man  has  the  right  to  kill  the 
adulterous  woman  without  further  preliminaries. 
Among  the  ancient  Egyptians  the  woman's  nose 
was  cut  off,  because  a  woman  "  who  incited  to 
forbidden  joys  had  to  be  deprived  of  the  most 


112  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

beautiful  ornament  of  a  beautiful  face."  Her 
seducer  was  punished  with  lashes,  yet  she  was  the 
"  charmer."  Among  the  Hindoos  the  woman 
was  publicly  torn  to  pieces  by  dogs,  and  the 
seducer  was  fastened  upon  a  red-hot  iron  bed- 
stead and  roasted  alive.  Among  the  Jews  the 
adulteress  was  stoned,  but  the  adulterer  was  pun- 
ished only  when  he  had  committed  the  act  with  a 
married  woman  and  had  thus  (by  a  violation  of 
"  property")  offended  another  man.  According  to 
the  laws  of  Solon,  the  Athenian  could  sell  the 
adulterous  woman  as  a  slave.  The  Romans  per- 
mitted the  husband  to  kill  both  the  wife  surprised 
in  the  act  of  adultery  and,  with  her,  the  adulterer. 
Mohammed  granted  the  husband  the  right  to  in- 
carcerate the  sinful  woman  in  an  especial  apart- 
ment of  his  house  "  until  either  death  released  her 
or  God  gave  her  a  means  of  escape."  Among  the 
old  Teutons  the  woman,  with  hair  cut  off,  and  dis- 
robed, was  cast  out  of  the  house  by  her  husband 
and  whipped  through  the  town. 

What  a  list  of  brutalities  and  barbarities !  And 
what  for  ?  For  an  imaginary  crime  against  imag- 
inary masters  who  called  themselves  husbands  and 
were  nothing  but  despots  and  barbarians. 


AND    J  HE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  113 


DIVORCE. 

The  laws  of  a  people  on  divorce  are  a  sure 
measure  of  the  reasonableness  and  humanity  of  its 
conceptions  of  marriage. 

No  nation  known  to  me  has  reasonable  divorce 
laws.  Through  the  French  revolution  reason  pre- 
vailed on  this  point  for  a  time,  in  that  it  made 
divorce  depend  on  the  will  of  the  married  couple  ; 
but  it  soon  again  succumbed  to  the  old  prejudices 
and  narrow-mindedness. 

The  free,  common-sense  conception  of  marriage, 
and  with  it  also  of  divorce,  is  everywhere  still  sup- 
pressed by  the  theological  conception  of  the  rela- 
tionship between  man  and  woman.  So-called  re- 
ligion and  the  ghostly  "  God  "  are  the  first  enemies 
of  marital  happiness.  According  to  the  theolog- 
ical conception,  taking  its  departure  from  super- 
human consecration  and  superhuman  will,  marriage 
is  in  itself  a  hallowed  relationship,  and  this  abstract 
relation  in  itself,  not  the  real  happiness  and  inter- 
est of  those  who  constitute  it,  is  the  chief  object. 
Marriage,  the  formal  relationship  with  the  ''divine" 
stamp,  is  to  be  upheld  even  if  the  married  persons 
perish  in  it ;  marriage  is  to  continue  for  life,  even 
after  all  the  requirements  which  constitute  its  es- 
sence have  long  ago  disappeared.     Marriage  is  to 


114  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

make  the  married  persons,  not  the  married  per- 
sons marriage.  Married  people  exist  for  the  sake 
of  marriage,  not  marriage  for  the  sake  of  mar- 
ried people.  Though,  after  becoming  acquainted 
and  familiar  with  each  other  to  a  degree  not  per- 
missible or  possible  before  marriage,  they  should 
tire  of  each  other ;  though  they  should  hate  and 
loathe  each  other;  though  they  should  become  as 
disgusting  to  each  other  as  horrible  pictures — 
they  have  once  been  married,  they  are  called 
husband  and  wife,  they  have  become  a  com- 
mon social  firm,  they  have  a  "  claim  "  upon  each 
other,  they  have  once  for  all  become  I  and  you, 
and  must  never  again  become  I  and  I.  To  be  sure, 
nobody,  not  even  the  most  bigoted  theologian, 
says  that  marriage  is  destined  to  be  an  institution 
of  unhappiness,  and  the  marital  chamber  a  chamber 
of  torture ;  but  if  it  has  come  to  be  so,  it  must  re- 
main so,  because  otherwise — marriage  might  be- 
come what  it  ought  to  be,  namely,  a  relationship 
based  on  spontaneous  affection,  which  is  formed 
without  help,  and,  even  without  force,  is  not  dis- 
solved, just  because  it  finds  in  this  affection,  in  the 
satisfaction  of  the  mutual  heart  interests,  the  only 
true,  the  only  legitimate,  and  the  only  lasting 
bond  of  union. 

It  is  due  to  the  theological,  inhuman,  misan- 
thropical, barbaric  conception  of  marriage  that 
the  laws  inflict  punishment  upon  those  married 
persons   who   no   longer    respect    a    relationship 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  1 1 5 

that  has  become  impossible.  The  "  punishment  " 
visited  upon  the  married  couple  in  their  inability 
to  longer  love  each  other  is  not  sufficient ;  for  this 
very  punishment  they  must  be  punished.  They 
have  entered  into  a  relationship  "  for  life,"  it  is 
said.  They  may  have  done  so,  but  they  did  it 
only  in  the  belief  that  they  would  be  happy  with 
each  other  as  long  as  possible,  perhaps  until 
death  ;  but  after  they  have  come  to  recognize 
that  they  were  mistaken  ;  when,  under  circum- 
stances which  could  not  have  been  estimated  or 
controlled  before,  they  have  come  to  know  each 
other  from  a  new  point  of  view,  which  excludes  all 
happiness  and,  therefore,  the  entire  object  of 
marriage,  they  must,  even  when  they  separate 
peacefully  and  with  mutual  understanding  in  order 
to  seek  for  happiness  elsewhere,  be  seized  by  a 
theological  marriage-police  and  be  chastised  for 
sinning  against  the  holy  marriage  relation.  This 
is  the  logic  of  the  theological  conception. 

The  duration  "  for  life  "  is  the  consequence  of 
a  real  marriage,  a  happy  choice  ;  but  to  make  it 
into  an  obligatory  requirement  even  for  an  unfor- 
tunate choice  is  to  condemn  two  people  to  life- 
long misery  for  a  momentary  weakness,  or  an  inno- 
cent chance,  or  a  one-sided  guilt,  by  means  of  the 
most  senseless  tyranny,  simply  in  order  to  have 
them  retain  the  name  of  a  married  couple.  Sex- 
ual contact  or  a  priestly  "  blessing  "  is  to  deprive 
two  people  completely  of  their  liberty,  is  to  make 


Il6  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

of  them  a  mutual  galley  to  which  the  one  has 
chained  the  other  as  his  slave,  is  to  be  considered 
as  an  act  zvhich  can  never  be  corrected.  This  is 
certainly  logical ;  for  the  infallible  stupidity  of  the- 
ology surely  cannot  be  corrected. 

Just  as  it  is  a  truth  which  must  never  be  lost 
sight  of  that  progress  of  society  in  one  direction 
can  never  be  thought  of  by  itself  alone,  so  it  is 
also  impossible  to  bring  about  a  true  married  and 
family  life  without  a  general  revolution  of  social 
ideas  and  conditions.  This  does  not,  however, 
preclude  those,  who  can  in  themselves  make  up 
for  or  do  without  this  general  revolution  from 
demanding  freedom  from  legal  bonds,  or  from 
anticipating  it ;  nor  does  it  preclude  the  law  from 
even  now  being  shaped  with  a  view  to  the  antici- 
pated conditions  of  the  future.  I  believe  that 
even  on  the  basis  of  our  present  conditions  no 
danger  would  accrue  to  society  if  the  law  should 
decree  the  following : 

i)  A  marriage  shall  be  dissolved  when  both  par- 
ties demand  a  dissolution,  and 

a)  declare  that  their  economical  relations  are 
completely  settled,  which  declaration  shall  absolve 
them  from  all  future  obligations ; 

b)  documentarily  testify  that  they  have  agreed 
about  the  support  and  education  of  their  children, 
which  agreement  shall  be  mutually  maintained 
with  legal  assistance.  Legal  assistance  shall  be 
rendered  gratis. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  117 

2)  A  marriage  shall  be  dissolved  when  one  party 
against  the  will  of  the  other,  has  three  times,  at 
intervals  of  one  month,  demanded  a  dissolution. 
In  such  cases  the  economical  affairs  shall  be  set- 
tled legally,  if  it  cannot  be  done  by  voluntary 
agreement.  The  children  shall  be  awarded  to  the 
parents  according  to  their  sex,  if  not  otherwise 
voluntarily  agreed.  The  obligation  for  the  support 
of  the  children  shall,  as  a  general  thing,  be  placed 
upon  both  parties  in  proportion  to  the  property, 
if  the  matter  cannot  be  settled  by  a  free  under- 
standing. 

By  such  regulations  the  character  of  a  compul- 
sory institution  might  be  taken  from  marriage, 
and  yet  every  consideration  which  would  have  to 
be  taken  of  present  social  conditions  be  allowed 
for.  And  the  levity  which  would  be  inclined 
to  make  of  marriage  a  relation  of  unscrupulous 
frivolity  would  be  met  more  effectively  by  the 
prospect  of  the  obligations  agreed  upon  than  by 
present  laws. 

More  senseless  divorce  laws  than  those  of  North 
America  cannot  easily  be  found, — doubly  sense- 
less for  the  reason  that  the  forming  of  marriage  is 
made  so  easy  as  to  depend  on  a  mere  word.  A 
mere  promise  of  marriage,  given  perhaps  in  a  mo- 
ment of  rashness,  of  intoxication,  etc.,  can  compel 
marriage  ;  but  the  dissolution  of  the  marriage  is 
generally  possible  only  when,  after  long,  expensive, 
and  scandalous  lawsuits,  the  one  party  has  sue- 


Il8  THE  RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

ceeded  in  proving  against  the  other  the  charge  of 
— adultery.  The  hope  for  divorce,  therefore,  de- 
pends solely  on  scandal. 

A  New  York  court,  in  a  suit  of  this  kind, 
has  just  given  a  decision  by  which  a  marriage  was 
dissolved  on  account  of  the  proven  adultery  of 
the  (seventeen-year-old)  wife.  The  husband  was 
left  free  to  marry  again,  "  just  as  if  the  divorced 
wife  were  dead  ;"  but  the  wife  was  debarred  from  a 
new  marriage  "  until  the  divorced  man  had  really 
died." 

A  more  senseless,  more  immoral,  more  unnatu- 
ral, and  more  unjust  decision  I  have  never  heard 
of  ;  but  it  is  only  an  application  of  existing  laws. 

I  will  not  stop  to  speak  of  the  indirect  induce- 
ment that  such  a  decision  could  become  to  the 
condemned  party  to  remove  the  arbitrary  hin- 
drance to  marriage  by  criminal  means. 

Neither  will  I  dwell  on  the  fact  that  the  di- 
vorced woman  has  been  condemned  by  the  court 
either  to  an  unnatural  and  not-to-be-expected  re- 
nunciation, or  to  permanent  prostitution  and 
shame. 

Nor  will  I  discuss  the  question  whether  a  court 
can  deny  one  who  has  not  been  found  guilty  of  a 
criminal  offence  his  or  her  natural  or  civil  rights. 

I  will  not  even  stop  to  consider  the  logic  which 
by  the  divorce  destroys  every  bond,  every  connec- 
tion between  the  divorced  parties,  and  yet  restores 
this  connection  by  making   the  woman  through 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  II9 

ner  condemnation  permanently  dependent  on  the 
man. 

Neither  will  I  investigate  how  a  court  comes  to 
treat  a  suit  for  divorce  like  a  suit  for  punishment. 

Likewise  I  will  refrain  from  inquiring  whether 
the  young  seventeen-year-old  wife  was  in  every 
way  responsible  in  regard  to  morality — whether 
she  was  not  through  education  or  circumstances 
or  the  fault  of  another  led  to  take  a  wrong  step. 

Nor  will  I  ask  whether,  before  the  passing  of  a 
sentence  which  grants  a  life-long  oppressive  satis- 
faction to  the  offended  husband,  it  ought  not  to 
have  been  investigated  and  considered  in  how  far 
he  had  through  hasty  action  on  his  part  brought 
about  a  union  which  very  soon  proved  unsuitable 
for  both  parties. 

All  these  points  I  shall  dispose  of  by  merely  in- 
timating them  in  order  to  come  to  the  chief  point, 
which  is  contained  in  the  question :  What  sort  of 
a  conception  did  the  judges,  or  rather  the  law- 
givers, have  of  marriage  when  they  combined  an 
additional  punishment  with  the  dissolution  of  a 
relationship  that  has  been  disastrous  to  both  par- 
ties? The  "  marriage  "  in  question  was  an  evil,  a 
torture,  a  misfortune  to  both  parties,  no  matter 
through  whose  fault.  The  thing  to  be  done  was, 
therefore,  to  put  an  end  to  this  unhappiness,  to 
dissolve  a  relationship  which  had  already  ceased 
to  be  a  marriage.  To  punish  one  party  because 
the  marriage  to  him  was  no  longer  a  marriage,  is 


120  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

to  decree  marital  felicity  and  to  make  marital  in- 
felicity a  transgression  of  this  decree.  It  is  plain 
that  the  judges  and  law-givers  proceeded  only 
from  the  theological  and  priestly  conception  de- 
scribed above,  which  makes  a  spook  of  marriage, 
and  as  such  sanctifies  it  without  regard  to  the  peo- 
ple for  whom  the  relationship  exists.  Though  the 
marriage  bond  may  have  united  two  beings  who  are 
to  each  other  as  water  to  fire,  they  must  get  along 
with  each  other — thus  the  priest  and  the  law-giver 
decree ;  and  when  the  consequences  of  the  im- 
possibility to  agree  come  to  light,  when  the  water 
hisses  over  the  edge  and  the  fire  sends  its  sparks 
beyond  the  limits,  then  the  judge  rushes  in  be- 
tween them  with  his  club  and  punishes  the  water 
for  being  with  the  fire,  and  the  fire  for  being  with 
the  water.  The  punishment,  which  consists  in 
the  disappointment  of  the  married  couple,  in  their 
grief,  their  discord,  their  unhappiness,  and  their 
material  disadvantages,  does  not  seem  to  the 
priest  a  sufficient  revenge  for  an  unfortunate 
choice  ;  no,  he  must  create  still  another  punish- 
ment, and  see  to  it  that  the  misfortune  is  pro- 
longed as  much  as  possible  and  is  not  forgotten 
for  a  lifetime. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  121 


IS  MARRIAGE  A  CONTRACT? 

Even  among  those  who  hold  most  liberal  views 
with  regard  to  divorce,  but  few  can  free  themselves 
from  the  old  conception  that  marriage  is  a  con- 
tract. A  liberal  American  paper  expresses  this 
idea  in  the  following  words  : 

"  Marriage  is  a  civil  contract.  It  is  not  indisso- 
luble, for  the  law  has  provided  for  divorce.  They 
decide  only  in  extreme  cases,  which  as  a  rule  de- 
cide themselves.  The  marriage  contract,  like  all 
other  contracts,  ought  to  be  dissoluble  with  the 
consent  of  the  contracting  parties.  We  go  even 
farther :  it  ought  to  be  dissoluble  on  the  mere  ap- 
plication of  one  of  the  two  parties,  for  as  soon  as 
it  becomes  oppressive  for  one  it  becomes  ruinous 
to  both,  and  ought  to  cease  at  once." 

If  marriage  were,  as  this  paper  says,  a  relation 
of  contract,  that  which  constitutes  the  essence 
of  marriage  would  have  to  be  created  with  it  by 
the  contract,  which  nobody  would  maintain  ;  but 
if  it  is  only  a.  personal  relationship,  it  requires,  like 
other  personal  relationships,  for  instance  friend- 
ship, neither  an  "  application  "  for  a  divorce,  nor 
any  other  formal  separation,  not  even  an  agree- 
ment between  the  married  parties,  but  both  par- 
ties are  actually  free  at  any  moment  to  discon- 
tinue the  relationship. 


122  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

This  last  is,  indeed,  the  only  correct  principle 
as  far  as  the  two  married  persons  are  concerned. 
For  marriage  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  free 
union  of  two  persons  who  love  each  other  and 
who,  just  because  they  love  each  other,  find  in 
this  union  the  satisfaction  of  their  emotional  and 
sexual  needs.  Without  love,  without  harmony, 
without  mutual  indispensability,  no  marriage  is 
possible  ;  with  these,  it  needs  not  the  protection 
of  the  law,  which  is  an  offence,  a  humiliation  to 
it.  A  contract  binds  the  contracting  parties  to 
mutual  obligations  which  conform  to  its  aim  and 
are  within  the  reach  of  possibility  ;  but  no  person 
can  put  himself  under  an  obligation  to  love,  for 
that  is  a  matter  of  taste,  the  gratification  of  which 
does  not  depend  on  the  will  of  the  person  who 
has  thus  bound  himself.  A  man  whom  a  woman 
loves  passionately  to-day  can  have  become  an  ob- 
ject of  disgust  to  her  a  year  hence.  Shall  she 
continue  to  love  him  acccording  to  contract,  or 
shall  she  sacrifice  herself  to  the  contract  ?  The 
conception  of  a  contract  in  marriage  presupposes 
the  possibility  of  forcing  a  person  to  fulfil  the 
condition  on  which  the  life  of  marriage  depends, 
which  is  love.  For  no  marriage  is  made  by  a 
merely  forced  living  together,  by  forced  economic 
communism  without  love  ;  otherwise  the  mere  im- 
prisonment together  of  two  persons  of  different 
sex  would  be  a  marriage. 

Married  people  who  no  longer  love  each  other,  no 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  1 23 

longer  have  anything  personally  to  do  with  each 
other,  any  more  than  other  people  who  have  no 
personal  relation  to  each  other.  It  is  as  though 
they  had  never  known  each  other  ;  yes,  as  though 
they  had  always  hated  each  other.  What  reason- 
able ground,  therefore,  can  there  still  be  to  keep 
them  together,  and  what  reasonable  object  can 
there  be  in  such  bondage  ? 

To  sanctify  marriage,  or  to  attempt  to  fetter  it 
by  means  of  a  contract,  is  to  thoroughly  miscon- 
ceive its  nature,  and  to  attempt  in  a  roundabout 
way  to  force  the  very  opposite  of  its  aim.  If 
marriage  were  a  contract,  the  marriage  relation, 
as  already  observed,  would  have  to  be  the  result 
of  the  contract  ;  but  the  exact  opposite  is  the 
case  :  the  marriage  relation  already  exists  through 
love,  before  that  which  is  called  the  contract  is 
created  by  the  marriage  ceremony,  etc. 

If  married  persons  wish  to  enter  a  contract, 
with  regard  to  their  economic  relations  for  in- 
stance, let  them  do  so  as  persons ;  as  a  married 
couple  they  cannot  do  it.  Two  lovers,  for  in- 
stance, who  wish  to  live  together,  that  is,  to  be 
married,  bind  themselves  by  contract  to  divide 
equally  their  common  property  in  case  of  an 
eventual  separation.  Such  a  contract  has  nothing 
in  the  least  to  do  with  the  real  marriage;  on  the 
contrary,  it  appertains  to  a  time  when  the  mar- 
riage has  ceased,  and  regulates  in  that  case  the 
external  affairs  of  the  once-married  couple.     But 


124  THE  RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

as  long  as  the  marriage  continues,  it  has  as  little 
efficacy  as  there  is  need  for  it ;  for  marriage  is  love 
in  action,  and  that  presupposes  complete  harmony 
in  all  dispositions,  and  complete  community  of  all 
interests. 

That  marriage  has  hitherto  been  considered  as 
a  relation  of  contract  indicates  nothing  but  a 
want  of  confidence  in  marriage,  The  conscious- 
ness that  under  present  perverse  conditions  true 
marriages  are  a  rarity  dictated  the  equally  per- 
verse precautionary  measure  of  putting  marriage 
into  a  strait-jacket,  so  that  where  love  is  want, 
ing,  its  apparent  result,  the  union,  can  at  least  be 
insisted  upon. 

To  form  a  marriage  by  contract  appears  to  me 
about  as  if  two  people  bound  themselves  before  a 
notary  and  witnesses  to  be  happy  or  to  try  to  be. 
We  marry  out  of  interest,  out  of  inner  need,  as 
one  feels  an  interest  or  a  necessity  to  eat,  drink, 
walk,  or  read  books,  etc.;  and  now  comes  this 
topsy-turvy  world  and  expects  us  to  bind  our- 
selves by  contract  to  eat  when  we  are  hungry,  to 
drink  when  we  are  thirsty,  to  take  down  our 
Goethe  when  we  want  to  read  something  beauti- 
ful, to  kiss  when  we  feel  an  amorous  inclination, 
etc.  Recently  an  intellectual  woman  wrote  to 
me :  "  Of  all  incomprehensible  things,  I  know 
none  more  incomprehensible  than  marrying." 
But  this  woman  is  "  eccentric,"  and  has  as  little  re- 
spect for  the  statute-book  as  for  the  Bible.     She 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  1 25 

will  not  go  to  heaven  for  this  reason,  and  she 
has  not  yet  found  heaven  on  earth  either — on  ac- 
count of  this  marrying. 

But  now  we  come  to  another  point.  It  lies  in 
the  simple  question  :  Would  the  idea  of  "  marry- 
ing," and  of  "  marriage  contract,"  ever  have  come 
up  if  women  could  look  out  for  their  own  sub- 
sistence, if  they  were  economically  independent 
of  men?  Would  the  idea  of  "marrying"  and  of 
"marriage  contract"  ever  have  come  up  if  no 
children  resulted  from  marriage,  or  if  the  children 
reared  and  educated  themselves  ? 

I  believe  that  after  some  reflection  those  ques- 
tions will  be  universally  answered  in  the  negative. 
It  is  the  necessity  incumbent  on  us  in  present  con- 
ditions to  save  women  and  children  from  helpless- 
ness, from  ruin,  and  not  the  nature  of  marriage, 
that  brought  society,  which  did  not  wish  to  be 
burdened  with  the  care  of  women  and  children, 
to  change  marriage  into  an  obligatory  relationship 
controlled  by  law.  And  it  is  also  this  economic 
consideration  on  the  part  of  society  which  in- 
vented the  illegitimate  procreation  of  children, 
and  has  made  the  birth  of  a  human  being  whose 
germ  has  not  been  blessed  by  a  priest  or  an  offi- 
cial a  disgrace.  Because  a  Heloise  may  chance 
to  be  poor  and  her  child  may  possibly  need  the 
support  of  society,  this  society  stamps  the  mother 
a  harlot,  and  clothes  its  niggardliness  in  the  hypo- 
critical robe  of  moral  indignation  at  so  much  de- 


126 


THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 


pravity.  If  Heloise  wishes  to  escape  her  fate,  she 
must  change  her  love  for  Abelard  into  an  article 
of  contract,  and  get  the  attestation  of  a  priest  that 
she  is  no  vagabond.  Abelard,  forthwith  under* 
police  control,  is  now  forced  to  care  for  "  wife  and' 
child,"  and  alarmed  society  can  once  more  sleep* 
quietly  beside  its  strong-box. 

This  legal  interference  with  the  natural,  purely 
personal  relationship  of  marriage  is  a  very  simple 
consequence  of  the  pernicious  state  of  society, 
which  suppresses  its  women  and  casts  out  their 
children,  instead  of  making  the  former  independ- 
ent and  educating  the  latter  at  the  general  ex- 
pense. 

I  can  very  easily  conceive  of  a  state  of  society 
— indeed,  I  cannot  conceive  of  a  better  future 
without  a  state  of  society  in  which  the  increase 
of  humanity  through  the  birth  of  a  healthy  child, 
sprung  from  free  marriage,  is  considered  not  only 
as  no  misfortune  and  no  disgrace,  but  as  a  piece 
of  good  fortune  and  an  honor  ;  in  which  a  free 
sexual  union  controlled  by  no  law  and  no  police 
will  have  crowded  out  all  hypocrisy  and  all  pros- 
titution ;  in  which  conduct  is  regulated  by  a  sense 
of  beauty  cultivated  from  childhood  and  by  the 
bond  of  true  love,  but  not  by  an  unnatural  moral- 
ity and  forced  relations ;  in  which  the  institutions 
of  the  State  are  in  duty  bound  to  receive  every 
mother  with  her  child  if  she  stands  alone  or  if  she, 
in  union  with  a  man,  has  not  sufficient  means  for 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  127 

support  and  education  ;  in  which  the  State  insti- 
tutions, in  the  well-apprehended  interest  of  society 
itself,  as  model  institutions  of  education  and  cul- 
ture, are  accessible  to  all  alike,  free  of  charge,  etc. 
Only  in  such  a  state  of  society  true  marriages, 
which  now  are  accidental  exceptions,  will  be  the 
rule,  and  "  divorce,"  which  now  causes  so  much 
trouble  in  the  world,  will  be  an  unknown  thing. 
In  the  absence  of  the  hitherto  prevailing  consider- 
ations of  the  "consequences,"  especially  of  the 
economic  embarrassments,  complete  liberty  to  look 
for  and  find  the  true  object  of  their  affections  will 
make  women  incapable  of  still  allowing  themselves 
to  be  dehumanized  as  prostitutes,  either  in  rela- 
tions of  "  contract  "  or  in  maisons  de  joie,  and  men, 
in  the  companionship  of  free  women,  will  look 
back  with  disgust  to  the  times  when,  by  the  aid 
of  money  or  force,  they  trod  the  dignity  of  half 
the  human  race  under  their  feet  in  order  to  un- 
feelingly satisfy  mere  sensual  lust  in  the  arms  of 
an  unfeeling  being. 


128  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 


"  HANGING  A  WOMAN." 

(From  "  Der  Pionier,"  July  29,  1855.) 

In  Troy,  N.  Y.,  a  Mrs.  Robinson,  who  has 
poisoned  her  husband,  has  been  sentenced  to  be 
hanged  on  the  third  of  August.  Now  the  gov- 
ernor is  besieged  from  all  sides  with  petitions  for 
pardon,  because  the  feelings  revolt  at  the  thought 
of  having  a  woman  hanged.  What  delicacy  of 
feeling  in  a  country  where  hanging  partly  takes 
the  place  of  national  holidays !  Would  not  the 
hanging  and  dangling  of  a  female  prisoner,  es- 
pecially if  she  were  pretty,  afford  a  most  piquant 
excitement  for  the  savage  taste  of  the  criminal 
mob? 

What  real  motive  dictates  this  petition  to  the 
governor?  Is  it  American  gallantry?  Hardly, 
for  this  is  usually  practised  where  something  is  to 
be  gained  thereby,  were  it  only  the  approval  of 
fashion.  Is  it  the  disgrace  for  the  feminine  sex 
which  is  to  witness  one  of  its  highly  honored 
members  ending  on  the  gallows?  Possibly; 
although  at  other  times  we  are  not  so  zealous  in 
warding  off  disgrace  from  the  sex.  But  the  chief 
motive  is  presumably  a  natural  aversion  towards 
hanging,  which  has  come  into  consciousness  and 
reached  such  a  degree  of  intensity  that  it  at  last 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  1 29 

had  to  vent  itself  in  petitions  for  pardon  when 
the  spectacle  of  a  feminine  delinquent  presented 
itself.  And  since  at  the  same  time  the  conscious- 
ness arose  that  this  aversion  had  not  made  itself 
felt  on  occasions  of  the  hanging  of  men,  its  mani- 
festation is  now  brought  forward  under  the  pre- 
text that  it  is  inhuman  or  unmanly  to  hang  a 
woman.  If  a  woman  had  not  sufficed  to  disgust 
our  republican  gentlemen  with  hanging,  a  beauti- 
ful maiden,  or  perhaps  a  child,  would  have  been 
required  to  at  last  universally  awaken  the  con- 
sciousness that  capital  punishment,  especially 
hanging,  is  a  barbarity,  nay,  even  a  bestiality. 
That  this  .recognition  could  be  held  in  abeyance 
until  a  woman  became  the  means  of  bringing  it  to 
light ;  that  the  gallows  adorned  with  a  male  corpse 
could  hitherto  be  considered  as  a  show,  or  at  least 
as  an  interesting  spectacle,  and  was  advanced  to 
the  dignity  of  a  tragedy  only  at  the  thought  of  a 
hanged  female,  proves  only  how  vulgar  and  un- 
republican  our  popular  consciousness  still  is ;  for 
capital  punishment,  especially  hanging,  is  as  great 
an  anomaly  in  a  republic  as,  for  instance,  torture 
for  the  M  religion  of  love."  Perhaps  Mrs.  Robin- 
son will  have  the  honor  of  involuntarily  having 
given  the  impulse  towards  the  abolition  of  capital 
punishment  in  the  chief  State  of  the  Union.  To 
be  sure,  it  is  no  flattering  testimony  for  our 
worthy  law-givers  that  it  required  the  instruction  of 
a  poison-mixer  to  teach  them  to  become  humane  ! 


I30  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

But  apart  from  this  point,  and  assuming  that 
capital  punishment  were  generally  justifiable  and 
ought  to  be  upheld,  there  is  still  another  ground 
for  protest  against  the  hanging  of  Mrs.  Robinson. 
This  ground  lies  in  the  criminal  irresponsibility  of 
women  as  against  men.  I  do  not  want  to  make 
the  statement  that  everything  is  permissible  for  a 
woman  to  do  against  a  man,  but  I  do  want  to 
maintain  what  holds  true  for  women  as  well  as 
for  slaves,  that  the  criminal  can  be  held  responsi- 
ble only  to  such  a  degree  as  he  is  free.  Therefore, 
whoever  wants  bondage  must  be  contented  to 
take  crime  into  the  bargain  ;  whoever  wants  the 
right  to  punish  crime  must  first  concede  liberty. 

Strictly  considered,  no  member  of  a  political 
community  is  responsible  before  the  criminal 
court,  for  the  moral  standard  of  every  individual 
is  only  a  product  of  the  general  standard,  so  that 
the  responsibility  really  always  falls  back  upon  the 
community.  This  reason  alone  already  suffices 
to  stamp  everything  that  we  call  punishment  and 
the  right  to  punish  as  nonsense  and  barbarity. 

But  if  this  doubt  is  thrown  in  general  upon  the 
responsibility  of  the  individual,  how  much  more 
must  this  be  the  case  where  the  ruling  portion 
takes  away  the  responsibility  from  a  class  or  a 
sex  by  disenfranchisement,  by  limitation,  or  by 
neglect !  Whoever  rules  is  responsible,  for  who- 
ever rules  is  free.  But  women  are  ruled,  and  who- 
ever is  ruled  is  not  only  not  free,  but  is  always 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  13I 

the  suffering  party,  and  is  therefore  always  thrown 
back  upon  the  revolution.  Woman  and  the  revo- 
lution are  the  most  natural  confederates.  Prob- 
ably that  is  the  reason  why  the  revolution  is 
always  represented  as  a  woman.  But  ruling  man 
would  make  woman  as  well  as  the  slave  respon- 
sible, although  he  will  not  grant  them  the  condi- 
tions which  make  responsibility  possible,  and  thus 
he  punishes  in  them  really  himself,  i.e.,  his  own 
wrongdoing.  In  how  far  the  actions  of  the  suffer- 
ing party  are  a  necessary  reaction  against  oppres- 
sion, justifiable  acts  of  defence  against  inflicted 
injustice,  natural  attempts  at  compensation  for 
rights  withheld,  a  forcibly  sought  outlet  for  a 
nature  perverted  by  force,  unavoidable  outbreaks 
of  inclinations  falsely  directed  by  binding  circum- 
stances,— all  this  our  present  courts  of  justice 
shrink  from  investigating,  because  such  an  investi- 
gation would  overthrow  our  entire  barbaric  justice, 
together  with  its  barbaric  foundation.  But  what 
the  administration  of  justice  neglects  to  do,  the 
critic,  the  publicist  must  at  least  strive  to  make 
good. 

Unbiassed  justice  must  always  be  predisposed 
to  take  the  side  of  the  weaker  party,  because  in  a 
conflict  of  rights  the  presumption  must  generally 
be  that  the  weaker  party  has  suffered  a  wrong  or 
has  been  incited  to  do  a  wrong.  Women  are  al- 
most always  in  that  case.  For  all  the  wrong  that 
is  done  by  women  the  men  as  a  rule  ought  to  bear 


132  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

the  blame,  be  it  directly  on  account  of  their  treat- 
ment or  indirectly  through  their  education  of,  and 
the  position  they  impose  upon,  women.  I  am  not 
acquainted  with  Mrs.  Robinson's  history,  and  do 
not  remember  the  proceedings  concerning  the  cir- 
cumstances and  motive  of  her  deed.  But  so 
much  I  do  know,  that  a  woman  is  not  by  nature 
designed  for  a  criminal,  and  that  her  heart  must 
be  wounded  or  hardened  by  very  peculiar  induce- 
ments or  influences  if  she  can  resolve  to  com- 
mit a  murder.  When  Mrs.  Baker  in  St.  Louis 
shot  the  libertine  Hoffmann,  all  the  world  was 
indignant  at  this  deed,  and  the  murderess  was 
looked  upon  as  a  monster.  I  at  once  declared 
the  condemnation  of  the  murderess  by  public 
opinion  as  premature,  because  only  very  excep- 
tional (then  still  unknown)  grievances  could  bring 
a  woman  to  do  such  a  deed.  Later  it  was  brought 
out  that  this  Hoffmann,  who  had  stood  in  intimate 
relations  with  her,  had  not  only  exposed  her  on 
this  account  to  others,  but  had  also  abused  her 
confidence  by  transmitting  to  her  a  loathsome  dis- 
ease 

When  the  men  have  become  so  depraved  that 
they  must  stop  to  think  to  which  species  of  beast 
they  belong,  it  is  always  the  woman  who  still 
represents  the  human  species  and  who  still  up- 
holds human  feelings.  When  the  father  has  be- 
come a  beast,  the  mother  saves  him  again  by  the 
birth  of  a  human  being. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS,  1 33 

I  do  not  want  to  use  the  moral  expression  that 
the  woman  is  "  better  "  than  the  man,  but  she 
certainly  is  more  humanely  organized,  and  in  the 
retirement  to  which  she  is  condemned  she  is  less 
exposed  to  the  hardening  and  demoralizing  influ- 
ences of  the  vulgar  atmosphere  in  which  the  male 
sex  at  present  still  disports  itself.  A  crime  com- 
mitted by  a  woman  will,  therefore,  generally  have 
more  cogent  and  deeper  motives  than  the  same 
crime  committed  by  a  man.  How  often  we  hear 
in  this  country  of  men  who  have  murdered  their 
wives ;  and  how  rare  is  the  opposite  case !  But 
who  is  there  to  maintain  that  men  have  to  suffer 
more  at  the  hands  of  the  women  than  the  women 
at  the  hands  of  the  men  ?  This  juxtaposition 
alone  proves  the  weaker  disposition  of  the  fem- 
inine nature  towards  criminal  deeds ;  consequently 
the  necessity  of  applying  a  different  standard  in 
the  judging  or  condemning  of  a  Mrs.  Robinson 
than  of  a  Mr.  Whiskeyson  or  of  any  wife-murderer 
by  whatsoever  name  he  may  be  called.  A  husband 
may  perhaps  slay  his  wife  for  some  pat  rejoinder ; 
the  wife  poisons  her  husband  only  after  her  feel- 
ings, her  love,  her  pride,  tortured  perhaps  through 
all  grades  of  despair,  has  killed  all  womanliness 
within  her,  and  has  left  nothing  of  it  except  the 
feeling  of  revenge. 

If  I  had  to  present  a  petition  to  Governor  Clark, 
I  should  above  all  things,  as  my  motive  for  so 
doing,  accompany  it  by  an  elucidation  of  the  na- 


134  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

ture  and  social  position  of  woman.  But  I  should 
then  also  not  fail  to  discuss  the  relation  that 
obtains  between  present  marriage  laws  and  the 
crimes  of  married  people.  I  am  convinced  that 
the  marriage  laws  commit  more  crimes  than  pas- 
sion. That  a  dependent  woman,  in  the  power  of 
a  hated  man,  should  sacrifice  her  life  with  all  its 
desires,  hopes,  and  needs  to  a  senseless  law  is  a 
requirement  which  must  indeed  be  called  an  in- 
direct incitement  to  murder.  If  Mrs.  Robinson 
should  be  hanged,  it  is  probably  for  the  law-givers 
and  the  priests  that  she  would  die. 


AND    THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  135 


RELIGION. 

What  has  been  said  above  of  marriage  and 
divorce  will  be  a  plain  hint  to  thinking  women  as 
to  the  importance  of  liberation  from  the  bonds 
of  religious  belief.  But  this  point  is  too  impor- 
tant, and  the  questions  attaching  to  it  are  too 
interesting,  for  me  not  to  devote  a  separate 
chapter  to  it. 

It  is  undeniable  that  woman  is  inferior  to  man 
ih  the  vigor  and  logic  of  her  thought  as  well  as 
of  her  will.  It  is,  therefore,  quite  apart  from  the 
greater  lack  of  opportunity  for  intellectual  devel- 
opment, generally  much  harder  for  her  than  for 
man  to  form  for  herself  an  intelligent  view  of  a 
liberal  philosophy  which  has  done  away  with  the 
teachings  of  religious  belief.  On  the  other  hand, 
woman  is  emotionally  receptive  and  has  an  active 
imagination,  and  is,  therefore,  more  accessible  to 
the  seductive  or  imposing  words  of  the  pious  than 
man.  Moreover,  her  position  and  her  sufferings 
supply  ample  need  for  comfort,  which,  as  is  well 
known,  only  faith,  "  the  church,"  is  able  to  give. 

Thus  it  can  be  explained  that  it  must  be  more 
difficult  to  cure  women  than  men  from  the  relig- 
ious malady.  Weak  woman  is  still  everywhere 
the  prey  of  the  priests  where  men  have  already 


136  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

shaken  off  the  yoke,  and  assuredly  those  black- 
coated  gentlemen  would  entirely  emigrate  from 
many  a  country  if  suddenly  there  were  no  more 
women. 

But  the  more  difficult  it  may  be  for  woman  to 
withdraw  herself  from  the  influence  of  the  priests 
and  from  those  teachings  which  afford  the  priests 
their  bread  and  butter,  the  more  necessary  this 
emancipation  has  become  for  her.  It  would  lead 
me  too  far  in  this  place  if  I  should  attempt  to 
revolutionize  the  religious  world  of  the  women  by 
purely  rational  conceptions  of  the  supernatural 
and  superhuman  things  by  which,  in  the  name  of 
religion,  their  mind  is  biassed  and  intimidated. 
This  has  been  done  on  another  occasion.  (See 
"  Six  Letters  to  a  Pious  Man.")  It  must  and  will 
become  clear  to  the  women  that  they  above  all 
are  interested  in  the  recognition  of  pure  human- 
ity, of  which  they  par  excellence  are  the  most 
beautiful  representatives,  but  that  there  can  be 
no  thought  of  this  recognition  as  long  as  the 
human  being  and  its  happiness  is  sacrificed  to  the 
fictitious  objects  of  a  nebulous  religious  world 
and  despotic  authorities.  Moreover,  the  religions, 
made  by  men,  are  all  designed  to  relegate  woman 
to  a  subordinate  position,  who,  in  order  to  find  her 
lot  endurable,  must  attribute  it  to  a  "God." 
This  "  God  "  is  nothing  more  than  an  invisible 
overseer  of  women  for  the  benefit  of  the  men, 
who  hold  them  as  slaves.     For  a  joke,  the  women 


-     AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  1 37 

ought  to  give  him  the  companionship  of  a  god- 
dess, whose  duty  it  should  be  to  control  him. 
She  might  be  called  Mrs.  God. 

Let  no  woman  fear  to  lose  her  "  moral  hold  " 
after  throwing  off  the  bondage  of  religion.  I  have 
known  women  who  have  freed  themselves  from 
everything  that  is  known  as  belief  through  their 
own  reason,  and  again  others  who  have  been 
brought  up  without  anything  of  what  is  generally 
called  religion.  They  are  more  moral,  more 
humane,  more  wholesome,  fresher,  and  more  lov- 
able than  all  those  who  have  allowed  their  souls 
to  be  adulterated  by  the  morbid  views  of  a  re- 
ligious teaching  which  is  inimical  to  nature.  In 
the  woman  the  true  and  the  right  is  already  pres- 
ent, crystallized  as  it  were  ;  she  only  needs  to  pro- 
tect herself  from  harmful  influences,  she  needs 
only  the  courage  to  follow  her  natural  inclinations, 
and  she  can  be  sure  that  she  will  not  miss  her 
destination  and  will  not  go  astray  on  the  road  of 
her  purely  human  mission.  What  often  becomes 
clear  to  the  man  only  after  long  reflection,  some- 
times flashes  up  in  the  woman  at  once.  The  vigor 
and  logic  of  thought  are  in  her  replaced  by  more 
direct  and  more  correct  operations  of  the  feelings 
and  a  sort  of  mental  sight.  But  where  a  female 
nature  has  once  attained  the  strength  to  translate 
the  language  of  the  feelings  into  the  language  of 
thought,  she  is  capable  of  surprising  the  most 
daring  philosopher.     I   call  attention  to  George 


13$  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

Sand,  whose  ideas  on  the  emancipation  of  woman 
and  whose  psychological  expositions  of  the  most 
beautiful  sides  of  ennobled  humanity  shame  and 
astonish  us  men. 

There  is  nothing  more  pitiable  than  the  fact 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  sex  that  preeminently 
represents  beauty  and  joy  pines  away  in  the  bond- 
age of  disagreeable  and  joyless  powers.  As  spring 
beside  winter,  so  does  this  dark,  odious,  dehuman- 
ized priesthood  stand  beside  the  joyous,  poetic, 
humane  Grecian  world,  whose  goddess  was  beauty 
and  whose  religion  was  joy.  A  second  Greece 
will  one  day  arise,  an  ennobled  Greece,  which  will 
expiate  the  sins  of  the  old  by  a  complete  recogni- 
tion of  the  feminine  sex.  A  second,  revised  edition 
of  Greece  designates  the  stage  towards  the  attain- 
ment of  which  the  entire  aspirations  of  our  present 
development  must  be  directed. 

It  requires  a  great  deal  to  take  from  man  in 
general  the  religious  need  (I  am  not  at  all  speak- 
ing of  the  aesthetic  need)  to  embody  his  thoughts, 
desires,  hopes,  and  ideals  in  pictures,  or  to  wor- 
ship them  in  symbols.  It  is,  therefore,  possible 
that  the  age  of  complete  mental  liberty  will  be 
bridged  over  by  a  period  of  philosophic-artistic 
romanticism ;  by  a  sort  of  new  mythology  which 
will  represent  the  results  of  our  historical  develop- 
ment and  of  the  moral  ideals  in  works  of  art,  and 
make  them  the  objects  of  a  new  cult.  If  the  ob- 
jects of  this  cult  only  are  the  right  ones,  then  it 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  1 39 

will  beautify  life  without  impeding  development. 
It  will  especially  afford  opportunities  to  draw  art 
into  the  foreground  and  lead  it  towards  its  des- 
tination, which  is:  the  enriching,  beautifying,  and 
ennobling  of  public  life.  Architecture  as  well  as 
sculpture,  painting  as  well  as  music,  eloquence  as 
well  as  poetry,  will  in  the  future  actually  be 
placed,  and  that,  forsooth,  in  the  sense  of  the  high- 
est end  of  art,  in  the  service  of  the  collectivity, 
the  State,  the  people ;  the  craving  of  men  for  ele- 
vation above  the  every-day  affairs  of  life  will  be 
satisfied  through  art,  and  the  churches  will  be 
changed  into  temples  of  art  or  into  theatres.  Is 
it  not  wonderful  that  our  church-goers,  where  the 
want  of  reason  and  humanity  does  not  stagger 
them,  are  not  repulsed  at  least  by  the  want  of 
poetry  and  taste?  In  the  simple  garden  of  the 
Tuileries  at  Paris,  with  its  statues  and  promenades, 
more  religion  is  to  be  found  than  in  Notre  Dame 
and  all  the  other  churches  of  the  metropolis. 
But  what  is  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries  in  com- 
parison to  public  resorts  which  have  been  pur- 
posely created  from  the  desire  and  the  idea  to 
satisfy  the  ennobled  sense  of  the  people  for  the 
forms  of  beauty  and  the  embodiment  of  thought? 
An  entirely  new  world  is  here  opened  up  to 
man,  and  to  the  statesman  who  has  an  eye  for 
more  than  the  things  of  mere  vulgar  use.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  will  be  filled  with  anger  and  dis- 
gust if  he  must  daily  be  a  witness  of  the  way  in 


140  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

which  the  rich  means  of  society  are  squandered 
on  nonsensical,  absurd,  and  vulgar  institutions, 
while  they  could  so  easily  be  employed  for  cre- 
ations which  even  by  their  mere  external  form 
would  elevate  the  sense  of  the  people,  would 
ennoble  its  taste,  and  give  its  ideas  ethical  tone. 
The  mere  visit  to  a  beautifully  located,  tastefully 
arranged  promenade  has  a  more  ennobling  in- 
fluence upon  the  coarsest  of  men  than  a  visit  to  the 
most  beautiful  church;  lingering  in  a  beautifully 
equipped  temple  of  art  does  more  for  the  moral 
nature  than  all  temples  of  "God;"  the  construc- 
tion of  a  single  Greek  theatre  would  be  more  im- 
portant for  civilization  than  a  thousand  institutions 
of  "  edification." 

Space  does  not  permit  me  to  develop  my  ideas 
on  this  rich  theme  more  minutely.  I  will  only 
call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  state  of  civiliza- 
tion, or  the  capacity  for  civilization,  of  a  people 
or  a  single  individual  can  surely  be  estimated  best 
according  to  the  degree  of  their  susceptibility  to 
the  ideas  of  the  democratic  world  of  bemity,  an  ex- 
pression by  which  I  mean  to  comprise  everything 
pertaining  to  this  subject.  France,  Italy,  and 
Germany  are  foremost  in  this  respect.  In  pro- 
portion to  its  means,  England  is  the  most  back- 
ward ;  and  if  London  did  not  at  least  have  its 
Westminster  Abbey  and  its  excellent  parks,  ex- 
cellent, to  be  sure,  more  on  account  of  their  size 
than  their  arrangement,  it  would  be  completely 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  I41 

submerged  in  shopocracy  and  priest  rule.  As  far 
as  America  is  concerned,  we  cannot  make  any 
demands  without  considering  the  newness  of  the 
life  here;  but  even  in  spite  of  this  consideration, 
one  can  easily  feel  discouraged  and  repelled  by 
the  preponderance  of  the  spirit  of  ignorance  and 
materialism  throughout  public  life.  And  yet 
American  development  is  perhaps  not  too  far 
removed  from  the  need  of  the  noble  man.  The 
influx  of  European  intellect  and  the  headlong 
speed  of  the  materialistic  scramble  will  perhaps 
soon  create  an  opposite  tendency  which  will 
thrive  all  the  better  the  fewer  the  impediments 
the  State  institutions  will  put  in  its  way. 

Let  us,  therefore,  also  hope  for  a  Greek  future 
in  America.  But  as  regards  the  women  now,  let 
them,  in  view  of  the  coming  beautiful  age  of  an 
ennobled  Greece,  manifest  their  taste  meanwhile 
in  a  passive  way  by  learning  to  do  without  the 
confessional  and  prayers,  without  nunneries  and 
calvaries.  At  the  same  time,  let  them  improve 
whatever  other  opportunities  present  themselves 
daily,  to  the  end  of  removing  the  priesthood  and 
excluding  its  influence.  I  will  mention  only  one 
thing.  The  Catholic  "  Church  "  regards  only 
those  marriages  as  valid  that  have  received  her 
"  blessing ;"  she  does  not  recognize  divorce,  and 
does  not  permit  the  remarriage  of  divorced  per- 
sons. It  is  reasonable  that  a  power  bent  at  all 
hazards  on  subjugating  the  spirit  should  attempt 


142  THE  RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

to  make  the  satisfaction  of  human  needs  depend- 
ent on  its  permission  or  conditions,  in  order  to 
become  in  this  way  the  mistress  of  the  entire  man, 
and  to  remind  him  every  moment  of  his  depend- 
ence. The  Catholic  "  Church  "  has,  therefore,  also 
introduced  a  great  number  of  fast-days,  etc.,  in 
order  to  rule  over  man  even  in  the  matter  of  eat- 
ing and  drinking.  And  how  should  she  have  for- 
gotten to  rule  over  him  in  the  matter  of  sexual 
love !  But  she  exercises  the  most  exquisite 
cruelty  of  authority  by  the  prohibition  which 
makes  it  impossible  for  divorced  people  to  marry 
again.  This  prohibition  means  in  other  words : 
"  The  more  unhappy  people  feel,  the  more  they 
need  our  consolation  ;  the  more  unhappy  mar- 
riages are,  the  more  occasion  have  we  to  intrude 
into  family  life,  and  especially  to  take  advantage 
of  the  helpless  women.  We  are  the  physicians 
who  make  the  cure  of  diseases  a  crime  in  order  to 
secure  the  longest  possible  control  of  the  patients. 
We  must,  therefore,  seek  to  prevent  the  dissolu. 
tion  of  marriages  ;  to  that  end  we  refuse  to  recog. 
nize  divorce ;  and  in  order  to  erect  another  barrier 
against  the  temptation  to  secure  one  nevertheless 
against  our  will  in  a  merely  legal  way,  we  make  it 
an  impossibility  or  a  crime  to  marry  again  for 
those  who  are  narrow  enough  to  regard  no  mar- 
riage as  valid  without  the  blessing  of  the  priest." 
It  is  in  the  power  of  women  wherever  civil  mar- 
riage obtains  to  upset  the  humane  calculation  of 


AND    THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  143 

the  priests.  Let  them  content  themselves  with 
civil  marriage,  and  after  a  possible  divorce — do 
the  same  thing.  No  sensible  woman  ought  any- 
longer  to  consent  to  the  self-degradation  of  permit- 
ting the  desecrating  hand  of  a  priest  to  "  bless  " 
her  love.  Shame  !  These  pestilent  propagators  of 
ignorance  and  disgust !  Every  bride  must  cast  a 
doubt  on  her  taste  and  her  loveliness,  if  she  can 
consent  to  let  a  priest  bless,  i.e.,  desecrate,  her  af- 
fection. 

I  call  the  attention  of  women  to  still  another 
point.  I  maintain  that  piety,  faith,  in  brief  the 
occupation  with  the  other  world,  that  is,  with  a 
world  and  with  beings  that  have  no  existence,  is 
just  as  pernicious  to  men's  love  towards  women 
as  the  veneration  of  a  ruler  makes  impossible  all 
true  relations  among  citizens.  Whatever  a  man 
sends  out  to  an  imaginary  being  beyond  the 
clouds  in  the  shape  of  feeling,  fancy,  enthusi- 
asm, "  love,"  he  withdraws  from  the  real  beings 
here  who  exist  before  his  eyes,  who  associate  with 
him,  and  to  whom  he  ought  to  give  his  whole 
heart  and  mind.  But  if  man  will  take  what  he 
has  hitherto  wasted  on  the  skies  back  to  the  earth, 
into  life,  into  mankind,  then  first  he  will  become 
man  in  reality  and  learn  to  make  of  his  fellow-men 
what  they  can  and  ought  to  be.  Woman  becomes 
his  "  God,"  and  love  his  "  heaven,"  and  mankind  his 
u  immortality."  Do  not  smile,  ladies,  but  regard 
it  as  in  sober  earnest  when   I  say  to  you :  only 


144  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

the  unbeliever  is  capable  cf  truly  loving  a  woman, 
and  piety  exists  forever  only  at  the  expense  of 
true  humanity. 

But  to  return  to  our  Greek  ideal.  Ancient 
Greek  life  was  simple,  natural ;  the  Greek  life  of 
the  future,  as  the  outgrowth  of  the  entire  preced- 
ing history,  will  for  this  reason  also  prove  infi- 
nitely more  varied,  more  conscious,  and  nobler. 
Womankind  also  must,  therefore,  be  thought  of 
quite  differently  from  what  we  see  in  the  figures 
of  Greek  women,  which  are  indeed  noble  and  classi- 
cally simple,  but  for  this  very  reason  also  some- 
what monotonous  and  inflexible.  Hitherto  we 
have  sought  for  ideals,  in  the  representations  of 
the  plastic  arts,  especially  among  the  ancient 
Greeks.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  this  has  been 
unjust  towards  a  later  development,  and  has  too 
much  disregarded  the  laws  of  this  development. 
Who  doubts  that  historical  life  is  progressive  in- 
stead of  retrogressive  in  all  directions  ?  And 
why,  even  if  classic  Greece  in  its  specific  combi- 
nation could  not  repeat  itself  as  a  whole,  should 
not  individual  elements  be  found  in  the  entire 
rich  field  of  history  which,  if  a  later  age  should 
again  construct  of  them  a  whole,  must  produce  a 
richer  and  nobler  life  than  that  of  the  Greeks  has 
been  ?  (We  do  not  even  mention  here  the  polit- 
ical anomalies  and  inhumanities  of  the  Greeks.) 
It  can  hardly  be  contested  that  we  are  more  ad- 
vanced than  the  Greeks,  not  only  in  the  sciences, 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  1 45 

but  also  in  art.  But  we  are  not  only  in  advance 
of  them  in  the  wealth  of  our  world  of  conceptions, 
of  knowledge,  of. ideas,  of  means,  but  also  in  more 
beautiful  human  ideals.  It  is  that  which  is  gen- 
erally overlooked  in  adhering  to  our  stereotyped 
school  education  and  imitation.  Not  only  in 
intellectual  and  spiritual  but  also  in  a  physical 
respect  our  age  can  show  more  beautiful  human 
beings  than  the  Greek.  The  intermingling  of  the 
nations,  from  which  the  Greeks  were  still  very 
much  excluded,  and  which,  besides,  could  only 
take  place  very  gradually,  is  a  means  for  the  per- 
fection  not  only  of  the  intellectual  but  also  of  the 
physical  man. 

I  have  had  opportunity  to  make  manifold  ob- 
servations among  both  sexes  of  the  most  diverse 
nations.  The  most  beautiful  women — in  order 
to  speak  of  these — I  have  found  in  America 
and  England,  at  least  in  so  far  as  concerns  color 
and  contour  of  face.  Rut  what  is  generally 
wanting  to  those  finely  cast  although  sometimes 
somewhat  stereotyped  features  is  the  soul.  They 
are,  in  spite  of  their  purity,  too  sharp,  without 
softness,  intellectual  penetration,  plasticity,  and 
poetry.  They  look  at  us,  as  it  were,  like  cold 
crystallizations  of  beauty,  in  which  there  is  no  ac- 
tive ferment  of  passion,  or  of  feeling,  or  of  imag- 
ination ;  in  short,  no  deep  soul-life.  This  beautiful 
dough  of  human  development  is  generally  desti- 
tute of  the  real  yeast  of  feeling  and  soul.     That 


146  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

is  not  only  due  to  the  state  of  culture  but,  at  the 
same  time,  to  the  national  mixture.  As  far  as 
form  is  concerned,  the  English  women,  even 
when  a  small  French  foot  might  entitle  one  to 
the  best  conclusions,  are  frequently  deformed  by 
a  most  conspicuous  breadth  of  waist.  The  mix- 
ture in  America,  however  much  it  still  betrays 
the  English  type,  has  already  produced  much 
more  perfect  forms  than  in  England.  The  Eng- 
lish length  of  limb,  which  is  so  apparent  in  both 
men  and  women,  also  has  already  partly  been  lost. 
In  London  a  lady  told  me  :  "  The  Englishwomen 
must  be  admired, on  the  balcony,  the  French  on 
the  street."  She  was  not  enough  of  a  physiolo- 
gist to  make  clear  the  truth  of  her  assertion  by 
describing  the  forms.  The  American  women 
seem  to  have  acquired  some  French  attributes  ; 
perhaps  they  are  only  wanting  some  German  ones 
in  order  to  complete  the  transition  of  the  femi- 
nine world  into  a  new  Greek  era. 

Ideals  of  beauty  cannot  very  well  be  native  to 
those  nations  which  bear  too  much  of  a  national 
stamp  in  their  external  appearance.  The  ideal 
body  as  well  as  the  ideal  mind  must  be  cosmopol- 
itan, and  they  are  to  be  found  in  Germany  and 
France. 

I  believe  that  according  to  character  as  well  as 
physique  the  French  and  the  Germans,  i.e.,  French 
men  and  German  women,  or  German  men  and 
French  women,  are  above  all  destined  to  estab- 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  \tf 

lish  by  intermingling  the  new  generation  of  a 
nobler  race  on  European  soil.  French  spirit  and 
German  character,  German  intellect  and  French 
vivacity  ;  French  fire  and  German  strength,  Ger- 
man feeling  and  French  grace  ;  French  sense  and 
German  sentiment,  German  thoughts  and  French 
impulses ; — those  are  the  elements  whose  union 
would  necessarily  constitute  the  ideal  of  true  hu- 
manity, and  would  correspond  with  each  other  as 
the  blue-eyed  and  the  brown-eyed  races  corre- 
spond physically. 

The  intermingling  of  the  nations  is  so  important 
a  condition  of  development  that  without  it  we 
may  expect  actual  stagnation.  In  those  peoples 
which  are  most  completely  shut  off  from  the  in- 
tercourse of  the  nations  civilization  is  stagnant 
like  a  swamp,  and  only  the  lower  spheres  of  de- 
velopment are  active.  One  need  only  call  to 
mind  China,  Spain,  partly  also  insular  England, 
especially  Ireland.  Italy  as  well  as  Greece  for  a 
long  time  seemed  to  be  doomed  to  a  similar  fate. 
Perhaps  the  Austrian  admixture  was  destined  to 
revivify  the  noble  Italian  blood  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  it  was  able  to  pour  itself  in  new  fer- 
mentation into  the  stream  of  human  development, 
and  thus  subjugation  had  also  in  this  respect  to 
become  a  means  of  progress.  It  seems,  more- 
over, that  the  mixture-ferments,  which  start  the 
development  of  a  people,  as  for  instance  in  Italy 
and  Greece,  outlive  themselves  after  a  certain  time, 


I48  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

or  lose  their  vital  force,  and  that  then  a  resus- 
citation must  first  take  place  before  develop- 
ment can  thrive  anew.  I  shall  not  enlarge  upon 
these  suggestions.  They  lead  to  one  of  the  most 
interesting  speculations  concerning  the  develop- 
ment of  many-sided  humanity. 

I  recommend  it  in  passing  to  the  earnest  con- 
sideration of  our  artists  who  cannot  yet  break 
loose  from  the  old-fogyism  of  the  schools,  which 
leads  them  again  and  again  to  make  their  studies, 
instead  of  among  living  men,  only  among  dead 
statues, — instead  of  in  the  moving  present,  only 
in  immobile  antiquity.  Two  thousand  years  after 
Christ  they  will  find  quite  different  human  ideals 
than  two  hundred  years  before  the  crucifixion. 

But  the  women,  I  hope,  will  not  resent  it  if  I 
also  direct  their  attention  to  the  meeting  and  in- 
termingling of  the  nations,  which  is  the  quietly 
effective  means  for  the  universal  ennobling  of  hu- 
manity, but  which  can  take  place  only  in  a  con- 
dition of  complete  liberty  where  every  obstacle 
of  mutual  prejudice,  mutual  embarrassment,  and 
mutual  egotism  will  be  torn  down.  The  graces  of 
the  arts  and  the  genii  of  humanity  can  only  take 
up  their  abode  where  a  free  spirit  in  free  intercourse 
has  domesticated  the  best  and  the  most  beautiful 
which  human  development  has  produced  in  the 
course  of  the  centuries. 

But  the  philistines  will  ask  why  this  chapter 
bears  the  heading  "  Religion." 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  I49 


THE     ECONOMIC     INDEPENDENCE     OF 
WOMAN. 

If  we  are  to  speak  of  freedom,  and  especially  of 
free  marriage,  we  must  above  all  things  establish 
the  independence  of  the  individual,  and  especially 
the  mutual  independence  of  husband  and  wife. 

The  great  question  of  the  times,  to  secure  an 
existence  to  every  one  and  thus  to  protect  him, 
on  the  one  side,  from  material  want  and,  on  the 
other  side,  to  liberate  him  from  conditions  in  which 
material  dependence  makes  him  a  mere  tool  of 
others — this  great  question  concerns  no  one  more 
closely  than  the  women.  Let  it  but  be  borne  in 
mind  what  has  been  said  above  of  prostitution. 
Perhaps  seven-eighths  of  the  feminine  sex  are  de- 
pendent, or  degraded,  or  enslaved,  or  prostituted 
because — they  cannot  emancipate  themselves  eco- 
nomically from  the  men. 

If  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  existence,  so 
far  as  it  concerns  the  male  sex,  is  already  difficult 
enough,  in  the  interests  of  the  women  it  is  still 
more  difficult  to  solve.  The  practical  course  of 
events  brings  it  about  that  the  men,  since  they  are 
the  makers  of  history,  want  their  turn  to  come 
first  and  make  it  come  first ;   moreover,  the  men 


ISO  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

are  equipped  for  the  work  of  life,  while  the  women 
have  hitherto  had  to  attach  their  existence  chiefly 
to  that  of  the  men,  and  are  in  general  not  brought 
up  in  a  way  to  be  able  at  once  to  stand  on  their 
own  feet.  Most  women,  therefore,  are  stih  in 
want  of  one  more  requisite  than  the  men,  namely, 
the  education  for  work. 

But  let  us  make  it  clear  to  ourselves  that  one 
step  in  progress  always  presupposes  another.  If 
we,  therefore,  have  to  recognize  the  inability  of 
most  women  under  the  present  circumstances  to 
gain  for  themselves  an  independent  existence,  it 
does  not  follow  from  this  that  the  same  conditions 
will  hold  for  the  future.  Let  us  make  this  clear 
by  laying  down  several  points. 

i)  The  State  of  the  future  secures  to  women  as 
well  as  to  men,  free  of  charge,  an  all-sided  oppor- 
tunity for  the  development  of  their  native  abilities. 

2)  Education  in  the  future  will  be  considerably 
facilitated  and  more  equalized  between  the  two 
sexes,  since  the  sciences  become  ever  more  simpli- 
fied, popularized,  and  their  results  made  more  ac- 
cessible to  every  one,  while  at  present  their  secrets 
are  still  hidden  behind  the  learned  barricades  of 
the  scholars'  caste.  In  the  future  many  a  lay  per- 
son will  know  more  than  many  a  professor  knows 
now,  for  the  chaff  of  unnecessary  knowledge  will 
be  winnowed  away,  and  true  knowledge  will  reduce 
everything  to  the  pure  kernel.  If  we  consider 
hereby  that  women  have  the  same  or  greater  abil- 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  151 

ity  than  men  for  the  learning  and  executing  of  a 
thousand  things,  but  have  hitherto  only  been  kept 
from  them  by  education,  we  must  imagine  their 
circle  of  activity  in  the  future  to  be  much  greater 
than  it  has  so  far  been. 

3)  In  a  more  humane  development  of  the  State 
ever  more  positions  will  be  opened  up  in  which 
only  the  woman  will  find  a  place,  while  in  the 
present  state  of  public  affairs  men  are  employed 
almost  exclusively.  Let  us  only  think  of  the  future 
schools  of  all  sorts,  the  institutions  of  art,  of 
amusement,  the  workhouses,  hospitals,  the  institu- 
tions for  the  reception  of  the  "  enfants  de  la 
patrie  "  (as  they  very  beautifully  call  the  found- 
lings in  Paris),  the  institutions  for  the  reformation 
of  prostitutes,  etc.,  and  we  shall  find  a  thousand 
opportunities  not  only  for  the  maintenance  but  for 
the  noble  occupation  of  women  of  which  no  one 
has  so  far  thought. 

4)  The  State  will  continually  gain  more  means 
to  secure  beforehand  the  satisfaction  of  the  prin- 
cipal needs  of  its  citizens  through  public  institu- 
tions, and  thus  to  facilitate  or  to  simplify  the 
individual's  care  for  his  existence,  and  therefore 
will  be  able  to  furnish  not  only  the  entire  public 
education  free  of  cost,  but  also  the  public  amuse- 
ments and  perhaps  even  the  dwellings  (at  least  for 
those  without  means).  State  help  will  be  extend- 
ed all  the  more  to  women,  especially  the  more  the 
principle  comes  to  be  recognized  that  the  disabled 


152  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

must  be  maintained  by  the  collectivity,  and  that 
those  without  work  must  be  furnished  with  ade- 
quate occupation  by  the  State. 

These  are  some  of  the  suppositions  from  which 
we  must  reason  in  order  to  judge  the  future  eco- 
nomic position  of  women  ;  and  if  one  considers  that 
the  woman  requires  much  less  for  her  maintenance 
than  the  man,  a  great  part  of  the  difficulty  of  self- 
support  will  be  equalized  by  her  fewer  wants. 

But  let  this  difficulty,  to  enable  the  woman  to 
establish  an  independent  existence,  be  ever  so 
great,  it  suffices  that,  as  a  human  being  and  as  a 
member  of  the  body  social,  she  has  the  same  right 
to  such  an  existence  as  the  man.  The  ways  and 
means  to  solve  this  problem  o*f  existence  the  State 
of  the  future  will  no  doubt  find  when  it  has  created 
those  liberties  and  those  truly  democratic  institu- 
tions which  permit  all  legitimate  interests  to  assert 
themselves,  and  allow  of  the  unhindered  disposition 
of  public  means.  But  when  that  problem  is  once 
solved,  woman  will  gain  quite  a  different  esteem 
and  position.  She  will  no  longer  be  forced  to  sell 
her  body  as  a  tool  for  lust ;  she  will  no  longer  be 
under  the  necessity  of  accepting  the  next  best  op- 
portunity to  get  married,  but  will  be  able  to  make 
her  choice  according  to  her  true  inclination  ;  there 
will  be  greater  opportunity  for  this  than  hitherto, 
for  now  the  impossibility  to  maintain  a  family 
excludes  many  a  man  from  marriage  who  could 
otherwise   make   a  woman  happy   (the   standing 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS,  I  $3 

armies  alone,  which  are  to  be  abolished  in  the 
future,  condemn  thousands  to  a  single  life  and  to 
prostitution  who  would  in  a  rational  State  become 
useful  members  of  society  and  good  husbands); 
she  will  be  able  to  maintain  her  independence  in 
marriage,  and  will  not  submit  to  unworthy  treat- 
ment from  fear  of  being  without  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence after  a  dissolution  of  the  relationship;  she 
will,  in  one  word,  be  able  as  a  human  being  to 
secure  her  liberty,  as  a  citizen  her  right,  as  a  wife 
her  dignity,  and  as  a  woman  her  happiness. 

But  the  economic  independence  of  woman,  as 
well  as  her  ethical  appreciation,  can  only  be  at- 
tained after  the  bad  conditions  of  the  present  are 
completely  changed,  and  the  edifice  of  the  true 
state  has  been  erected  on  the  ruins  of  these  bad 
conditions.  Therefore  the  women  must  join  the 
great  public  conspiracy,  which,  where  reform  is 
sufficient,  will  strive  to  better  the  condition  of 
humanity  by  reform  and,  where  revolution  is 
necessary,  by  revolution.  And  since  a  just  regula- 
tion of  the  economic  conditions  is  thinkable  only 
through  a  true  democracy  in  which  the  majority 
of  the  suffering  can  take  their  interests  into  their 
own  hands,  woman's  interests  from  the  start 
assign  her  a  place  in  the  truly  democratic  party ; 
and  since  the  true  democracy  will  hardly  be  estab- 
lished anywhere  without  revolutionary  attacks  on 
power  and  money,  woman  is  from  the  start  as- 
signed to  the  revolutionary  party. 


154  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 


LIBERTY  AND  THE  REVOLUTION  THE 
ALLIES  OF  WOMEN. 

In  the  same  degree  that  the  true  liberty  of  men 
is  great  and  well  developed  the  position  of  women 
naturally  becomes  freer  and  more  favorable. 
Now  even  if  her  legal  position  is  as  yet  nowhere 
equal  to  that  of  the  male  sex,  because  complete 
liberty  has  as  yet  nowhere  become  a  reality,  it 
still  is  important  to  recognize  by  illustrations  the 
differences  in  the  shaping  of  the  destinies  of 
women  as  the  results  of  the  greater  or  lesser 
liberties  of  a  people. 

Let  us  for  this  purpose  contrast  North  Ameri- 
ca with  monarchical  countries.  In  the  greater 
part  of  Europe  the  legal  enactments  which  deter- 
mine the  legal  position  of  women  are  sometimes 
the  outcome  of  manifest  barbarity.  The  Code 
Napoleon,  for  instance,  surrenders  women  entirely 
to  the  lusts  of  men  by  prohibiting  the  establish- 
ment of  the  paternity  of  an  illegitimate  child.* 
But  the  man  has  full  power  over  the  woman,  as  he 
can  compel  her  with  the  help  of  the  police  to  remain 
in  his  house,  while  the  opposite  is  not  the  case. 

*  Code  Napoleon,  art.  340:  La  recherche  de  la  paternite 
est  interdite. — Translator. 


AND    THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  155 

The  man  is  the  master  and  guardian  over  the 
wife  and  her  children.  The  Prussian  government, 
forced  by  the  fruits  of  its  military  system,  stands 
by  illegimate  children  in  so  far  as  to  permit  suits 
for  alimony,  etc.;  but  to  make  up  for  this  it  grants 
the  husband  the  right  by  means  of  "  mild  chas- 
tisement "  to  remind  his  wife  of  the  fact  that  she 
is  at  bottom  nothing  but  his  slave. 

In  North  America  we  have  at  least  overcome 
such  ideas  of  right ;  and  even  if  the  rights  of 
woman  are  neither  completely  recognized  nor 
guarded  here,  the  consciousness  of  the  wrong  that 
is  being  done  them,  and  the  endeavor  to  do  them 
justice,  find  expression  in  social  life  as  well  as  in 
law. 

The  attention  which  the  Americans  show  to  the 
women  in  social  intercourse  is  known  the  world 
over.  But  far  be  it  from  me  to  take  it  for  any- 
thing else  than  a  sort  of  conventional  sin-offering 
for  rights  withheld.  It  is  for  the  most  part  mere  gal- 
lantry. But  there  are  no  more  dangerous  "virtues  " 
than  piety  and  gallantry.  Behind  the  first,  ras- 
cality is  wont  to  hide  itself ;  behind  the  latter, 
coarseness.  Gallantry  is  nothing  more  than  a 
cheap  substitute  for  true  appreciation,  the  justice 
of  which  is  felt  more  than  admitted  ;  it  is  a  decep- 
tive humility  with  which  one  deceives  himself  and 
others  concerning  the  arrogance  that  is  hidden 
behind  it.  But  since  it  springs  just  as  much  from 
a  vague  perception  as  from  conscious  arrogance,  it 


/56  THE   RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

is  at  once  a  proof  of  the  necessity  or  the  inclina- 
tion to  grant  to  women  what  belongs  to  them. 

The  consciousness  of  the  wrong  due  towards 
women  is  moreover  expressed  in  American  legisla- 
tion. It  is  indeed  much  that  the  men  have  con- 
ceded to  women  the  right  to  put  them  out  of  con- 
ceit with  their  own  want  of  principle  by  allowing 
the  women  to  claim  a  mere  promise  of  marriage 
as  a  binding  contract.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  this 
legal  precaution  shows  that  the  least  conception  of 
the  true  essence  of  marriage  is  wanting,  for  a  re- 
lationship which  is  brought  about  only  through 
the  intervention  of  the  police  is  no  marriage  from 
the  start,  but  an  institution  of  force  which  can 
only  breed  disaster.  And  such  regulations  gener- 
ally accrue  only  to  the  benefit  of  unworthy  women 
who  either  disclaim  all  feeling  of  self-respect  and 
honor  to  such  a  degree  that  they  will  allow  a  man 
to  be  bound  to  them  by  force  who  is  not  drawn 
to  them  by  any  inclination,  or  who  are  low  enough 
to  actually  speculate  on  promises  of  marriage  in 
order  to  get  themselves  provided  for.  Whether, 
moreover,  the  right  to  establish  a  promise  of  mar- 
riage by  a  mere  oath  is  not  most  dangerous  in 
a  moral  respect  is  a  question  which  experience  is 
not  slow  to  answer.* 

*  The  following  interesting  case  of  perjury  is  said  to  have  hap- 
pened in  Philadelphia  several  years  ago.  A  handsome  young 
man  is  summoned  before  the  judge  to  give  an  explanation  of 
himself  concerning  a  promise  of  marriage.    He  does  not  remem- 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  I $7 

"  Liberty  and  equality"  must  not  only  be  realized 
with  regard  to  classes,  but  also  with  regard  to  the 
sexes.  From  this  we  are  still  far  removed,  even 
in  America.  Especially  the  marriage  and  divorce 
laws,  as  we  have  seen  above,  are  still  sufficiently 
barbaric  here.  The  above-mentioned  symptoms, 
however,  coupled  with  isolated  regulations,  which 
partly  emancipate  the  women  from  the  economic 
control  of  the  men,  as  well  as  isolated  attempts 
to  increase  this  emancipation  through  legislation, 
plainly  show  how  great  a  start  the  liberty  of 
American  women  has   already  secured,   as   com- 


ber ever  having  made  such  a  promise.  But  the  judge  sets 
aside  all  doubts  by  the  assurance  on  oath  of  a  beautiful  lady 
with  whom  the  young  man  after  various  denials  is  finally  con- 
fronted. He  had  never  seen  the  lady.  But  she  insists  that  he, 
on  the  occasion  of  a  secret  rendezvous,  has  promised  to  marry 
her,  and  claims  him  for  a  husband.  The  astonished  candi- 
date for  marriage  assures  her  that  her  beauty  and  amiability 
gave  the  best  proof  to  the  contrary,  for  force  was  not  needed  to 
make  him  the  husband  of  a  woman  who  was  fitted  to  meet  all  his 
requirements,  and  for  this  reason  she  would  certainly  believe  him 
if  he  insisted  that  he  had  never  seen  her  before.  The  lady, 
however,  adheres  to  her  oath,  and  the  marriage  is  concluded  at 
once.  On  the  way  home  the  young  wife  confesses  to  her  hus- 
band that  his  appearance  had  long  ago  excited  her  love,  but  as 
she  found  no  opportunity  to  make  his  acquaintance,  she  at 
last  struck  upon  the  desperate  expedient  of  seeking  it  by  means 
of  perjury.  Now  after  having  attained  her  end  she  gave  him 
back  his  full  liberty  and  would,  in  case  he  should  want  a  di- 
vorce, agree  to  it  at  once.  The  divorce,  however,  was  not 
sought. 


158  THE   RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

pared  with  that  of  European  women,  in  a  legal 
respect. 

But  their  chief  advantage  consists  in  the  liberty 
to  agitate,  and  in  that  freedom  from  prejudice 
which  allows  them  to  themselves  take  an  active 
part  in  the  work  of  emancipation,  as  the  woman, 
conventions  have  shown. 

But  with  this  liberty  they  have  not  yet  accom- 
plished enough.  True  liberty  does  not  appear  like 
an  oasis  in  the  desert  of  barbarity  surrounding  it. 
Liberty,  wherever  it  appears,  stands  in  the  closest 
connection,  in  constant  interchange,  with  all  other 
branches  of  development  and  with  all  mundane 
conditions.  There  is  no  narrower  prejudice  than 
that  which  considers  American  development  in- 
dependent of  European  development,  which  is  its 
mother.  That  does  not- only  concern  politicians, 
but  also  women.  I  do  not  speak  of  the  fact  that 
American  women  can  gain  an  infinitely  greater 
store  of  conceptions  from  the  literature  of  Ger- 
many and  France,  from  the  profound  discussions 
of  the  social  and  humane  questions  in  Europe, 
than  from  the  limited  literature  of  materialistic 
America.  But  I  should  especially  like  to  make  it 
clear  to  them  that  it  is  indirectly  for  their  greatest 
interest  to  see  the  ideas  which  have  been  awakened 
through  German  and  French  literature  translated 
to  action  and  life  by  the  victory  of  the  European 
revolution.  The  victory  of  the  European  revolu- 
tion Over  barbarity  and  darkness  will  also  have  an 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  1 59 

immense  influence  upon  North  America.  If  the 
air  has  been  cleared  by  a  thunder-shower  over 
there,  many  a  cloud  will  likewise  disappear  in  the 
West  from  the  heaven  of  humanity.  The  world 
has  not  yet  been  turned  around,  and  now  as  be- 
fore the  sun  will  rise  in  the  East,  even  if  the  rev- 
olution of  our  earthly  sphere  begins  from  the 
West. 

As  I  have  shown  in  a  former  article,  wholesale 
murder,  the  warrior's  trade,  constitutes  the  chief 
advantage  upon  which  the  male  sex,  consciously 
or  unconsciously,  founds  its  chief  prerogative  as 
against  the  feminine  sex.  What  now  will  be  the 
chief  result  of  the  victory  of  the  European  revolu- 
tion? The  interest  which  American  women  have 
in  this  victory  can  be  made  clear  in  a  short  series 
of  conclusions. 

What  directly  establishes  the  predominance  of 
men  and  their  inhuman  tyranny  over  women  ?  As 
We  have  seen,  war,  wholesale  murder. 

Who  causes  the  wars  with  all  their  conse- 
quences of  bestiality,  and  in  whose  favor  are  they 
waged  ?     In  favor  of  monarchs  ! 

What  enables  monarchs  to  wage  these  wars,  and 
what  continually  dulls  the  judgment  in  regard  to 
the  outrage  of  the  "  glorious  "  trade  of  murder  ? 
The  standing  armies! 

How  can  monarchs,  wars,  and  standing  armies 
be  abolished  in  Europe?  By  establishing  repub- 
lics ! 


l6o  THE  RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

What  will  be  the  universal  consequence  of 
Europe  republicanized  ?  Peaceful  union  of  the 
nations  and  mutual  disarmament ! 

What  follows  from  all  this  ?  The  great  interest 
which  American  women  have  in  the  establishment 
of  the  European  republic  ! 

Thus  the  republicanization  of  Europe  is  an  af- 
fair whose  result  must  have  revolutionizing  influ- 
ence on  the  conditions  and  the  development  of 
the  whole  world,  especially  of  America.  Will 
America  have  to  remain  prepared  for  war  when 
the  main  portion  of  the  world  is  republicanized, 
the  nations  are  fraternized,  and  their  destiny 
taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  barbarous  god  of 
war  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  peaceful  congress 
of  nations  ?  Will  playing  soldiers,  which  for  the 
men  of  this  republic  seems  to  have  become  the 
only  poetry  of  national  life,  still  have  any  reason 
for  being?  When  this  military  diversion  for  the 
national  mind  shall  have  ceased,  will  not  nobler 
conceptions  and  needs  force  themselves  to  the 
surface  ?  Is  not  militarism  the  prop  of  everything 
unfree,  and  the  foil  for  every  vulgarity  ?  But  vul- 
garity is  the  greatest  evil  of  North  America. 
This  vulgarity  also  makes  all  true  national  life 
and  national  festivity  impossible,  whereby  women 
lose  every  opportunity  of  making  their  influence 
felt  in  public  social  intercourse,  and  of  making 
themselves  appreciated. 


AND    THE   SEXUAL  RELATIONS,  l6t 

These  suggestions  will  suffice  for  far-seeing 
women  to  justify  me  in  positively  declaring 
that  the  European  revolution  is  the  most  power- 
ful ally  of  the  women  of  America  as  well  as  of 
Europe. 


1 62  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 


CONCLUSION. 

WOMEN  in  geiieral  still  make  themselves  the 
slaves  of  fashion  ;  their  heart  is  set  on  gewgaws, 
and  they  grow  enthusiastic  over  a  thousand  trifles. 
To  please  women  in  general  one  must  be  a  man 
without  intellect  or  heart.  Women  in  general — 
but  why  talk  of  all  these  things?  I  pass  them  by 
all  the  more  readily  because  they  stand  in  relation 
with  most  of  the  chief  evils  examined  above. 
This  examination,  the  critical  and  reformatory 
survey  of  the  existing  chief  evils,  their  causes, 
their  relation,  and  the  means  of  abolishing  them, 
was  the  only  thing  of  importance. 

The  fair  readers  must  have  become  convinced 
by  this  survey  that  their  oppression,  their  depend- 
ence, their  degradation  is  founded  on 

the  rule  of  force, 

the  rule  of  money,  and 

the  rule  of  priests. 

It  must,  therefore,  have  become  clear  to  them 
that  they  cannot  depend  on  an  improvement  of 
their  lot  before 

the  liberty  and  the  right  of  all  men  have  been 
attained, 

the  existence  of  all  men  has  been  secured, 
and 


AND    THE   SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  163 

the  essence  and  dignity  of  all  men  have  been 
recognized  in  purely  human  conceptions. 

Everything  that  they  can  be  and  can  wish  for 
depends  on  these  three  points:  their  liberty,  their 
rights,  their  dignity,  their  social  position,  their 
marital  happiness,  their  love,  their  education,  their 
everything. 

Therefore  these  three  points  also  suffice  as  a 
guide  to  women  for  the  direction  which  their 
antipathies  and  sympathies,  their  hate  and  their 
love  must  take.  Let  all  despotism  with  its  sup- 
porters, all  aristocracy  of  wealth  with  its  rep- 
resentatives, all  religious  humbug  with  its  priests, 
be  recommended  to  the  hatred  and  the  abhorrence 
of  the  women  ;  let  liberty  with  its  champions, 
socialism  with  its  apostles,  reason  with  its  teachers, 
appeal  to  the  love  and  sympathy  of  all  women 
of  right  thought  and  noble  feeling,  whose  striving, 
whose  interests,  whose  happiness,  whose  future 
do  indeed  lie  only  in  the  path  of  these  revolu- 
tionary motors. 

Let  them  but  smile  upon  you,  entice  you,  flatter 
you,  those  brilliant  despots,  those  perfumed  slave- 
holders, those  gay  soldiers,  those  suave  diplo- 
matists, those  proud  money-lords,  those  fawning 
priests — turn  your  backs  on  them,  cast  them  from 
you  with  contempt,  and  swear  to  them  the  hatred 
of  destruction,  for  they  are  the  creators  of  your 
slavery,  the  fathers  of  your  shame,  the  teachers 
of  your  degradation.     Only  free   men  are  your 


164  THE  RIGHTS  OF    WOMEN 

friends,  and  only  with  the  era  of  complete  liberty 
and  justice  does  the  morning  of  your  true  being 
dawn  for  you. 

Powerless  and  degraded  as  you  have  hitherto 
been,  you  can  attain  to  power  and  distinction 
from  the  moment  that  you  combine  with  the  cor- 
rect appreciation  of  your  ends  the  sincere  will  to 
serve  them.  Your  tender  hands  are  a  thousand- 
fold able  to  interfere  in  the  course  of  events  and 
the  actions  of  men,  if  you  will  only  put  them  in 
the  service  of  your  hatred  and  your  love,  and  if 
you  will  hate  what  is  bad  and  love  what  is  right. 
You  can  encourage  and  deter ;  you  can  reward 
and  you  can  punish ;  you  can  twine  wreaths 
and  crowns  of  thorns.  If  a  virgin,  cast  off  your 
suitor  if  he  does  not  prove  himself  a  servant 
of  liberty.  If  a  wife,  desert  your  husband  if 
he  deserts  the  cause  of  liberty.  If  a  mother, 
rear  your  children  on  the  milk  of  liberty,  and 
early  enflame  in  their  hearts  the  hatred  for 
tyranny,  that  the  dagger  of  Harmodious  and 
Aristogeiton  may  become  the  plaything  of  their 
youth. 

Look  about  you  in  Europe!  It  lies  down- 
trodden beneath  the  feet  of  those  in  whose  eyes 
your  entire  sex  is  nothing  but  a  herd  of  servants 
and  whores,  under  the  feet  of  those  who  have  had 
you  flogged  beneath  the  gallows  on  which  they 
had  hanged  your  husbands  and  sons.     What  will 


AND    THE    SEXUAL   RELATIONS.  165 

your  future  be  if  in  the  impending  struggles  these 
men  again  remain  the  victors? 

Look  about  you  in  America  !  It  was  approach- 
ing a  time  which  was  to  put  the  stamp  of  .slavery 
on  this  entire  republic  in  the  name  of  "  democracy." 
And  what  would  your  future  have  been  if  this 
slaveholder  democracy  had  not  been  overthrown  ? 
The  poison  of  corruption  would  have  corroded 
all  moral  conceptions,  and  the  passion  of  vul- 
garity have  severed  all  moral  ties  ;  expoliation 
would  have  completed  the  right  of  the  stronger, 
and  degradation  would  have  completed  the  law  of 
the  weaker ;  power  would  have  been  taught  to 
rule  everything,  and  money  to  buy  everything; 
the  recognition  of  the  rights  of  man  would 
have  become  a  stupidity,  and  the  assertion  of 
humanity  treason  ;  the  standard  of  the  slave- 
holder would  have  measured  every  interest,  and 
the  interest  that  would  have  been  felt  for  you 
would  have  been  nothing  more  than  that  felt  for 
the  women  in  Europe. 

Well,  slavery  has  been  abolished,  but  its  chief 
supports,  vulgarity,  wealth,  the  priesthood,  have 
come  into  the  inheritance,  and  they  will  endeavor 
to  keep  you  in  a  state  of  semi-slavery  until  you 
help  to  make  them  harmless  by  championing 
science,  justice,  and  enlightenment. 

Must  you  still  be  told  what  you  are  to  love  and 
what  you  are  to  hate,  in  America  as  well  as  in 
Europe  ? 


1 66  7^HE   RIGHTS   OF    WOMEN 

The  reaction  everywhere  reveals  three  points  : 
force,  money  rule,  priesthood.  The  points  of  the 
opposition  are :  liberty,  justice,  reason.  The 
points  of  the  reaction  are  always  the  proper  tar- 
gets for  the  hatred,  the  points  of  the  opposition 
always  the  proper  objects  for  the  sympathy,  of 
women.  For  they,  as  the  weaker  party,  are  al- 
ways the  ones  whom  the  victory  of  the  reaction, 
continuing  to  operate,  affects  most  disastrously, 
and,  as  the  most  disqualified  party,  they  are  always 
the  ones  who  receive  the  greatest  aid  for  their 
interests  in  the  most  radical  opposition. 

In  Europe  it  is  the  banner  of  the  revolution,  in 
America  the  banner  of  radical  democracy,  which 
leads  the  hosts  on  towards  the  time  when  the 
free  woman  can  proudly  rejoice  by  the  side  of 
the  freeman.  On  the  grave  of  the  tyrants  blooms 
your  liberty,  from  the  ruins  of  aristocracy  arise 
your  rights.  Therefore  follow  the  banner  of  the 
revolution  in  Europe,  and  the  banner  of  radical 
democracy  in  America! 

It  is  not  for  us  alone ;  no,  it  is  for  you  yourselves, 
ye  women,  if  you  heed  the  call  of  the  time  which 
says  to  you  : 

Women  must  enter  the  ranks  of  the  revolution 
for  the  object  is  the  revolution  of  humanity. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

In  a  footnote  to  my  preface,  the  translator  of 
the  foregoing  treatise  has  clearly  defined  her  views 
regarding  the  means  to  be  employed  in  the  at- 
tainment of  the  common  aim,  and  which  she  con- 
siders as  radically  divergent  from  those  of  the  au- 
thor, without,  however,  in  my  opinion,  at  the  same 
time  stating  the  position  of  her  opponent  just  as 
clearly.  For  this  reason,  as  well  as  in  the  interest 
of  a  better  understanding  of  the  matter  under  dis- 
cussion, I  take  occasion  to  set  forth  clearly,  by 
means  of  a  succinct  resume,  Heinzen's  views  with 
regard  to  the  important  factors  in  the  develop- 
ment of  mankind  touched  upon  by  the  point 
at  issue.  It  seems  to  me  it  will  be  seen  that 
there  are  more  points  of  contact  in  regard  to 
the  subject  treated  therein  between  the  esteemed 
translator  and  the  author  of  this  treatise,  and  that 
at  bottom  she  does  not  entertain  such  fundament- 
ally divergent  views  from  his  as  she  feels  bound 
to  assume.  Heinzen  defines  the  conception  of  the 
"  State  "  succinctly  as  follows : 

u  '  Democracy.'  I  supply  this  term  with  quota- 
tion-marks to  indicate  that  I  merely  borrow  it. 
For  at  bottom   it  does  not  mean  what  in  the  radi- 

167 


l68  POSTSCRIPT. 

cal  sense  it  ought  to  mean.  Democracy  (popular 
rule)  is  by  no  means  an  expression  for  a  rational 
or  appropriate  conception.  Where  there  is  au- 
thority, there  must  also  be  servants.  But  a  free 
people  know  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  Over 
whom  are  the  people  to  rule  ?  Even  their  office- 
holders and  agents  they  can  only  entrust  and  com- 
mission with  their  affairs.  The  term  democracy 
came  into  use  simply  to  denote  an  opposition  to 
an  authority  over  the  people.  The  people  are  not 
to  be  ruled  by  others,  from  which  it  does  not  fol- 
low, however,  that  now  the  people  themselves  are 
to  establish  an  authority,  but  that  all  authority 
must  disappear.  And  with  the  conception  of  au- 
thority the  conception  of  government  will  vanish. 
All  that  remains  and  all  that  is  necessary  is  a  com- 
mon administration  according  to  general  vote,  a 
supervision  of  the  common  interests  conducted 
by  the  requisite  personnel  under  general  control. 
Control  is  not  authority. 

"  Of  an  individual  freely  attending  to  his  affairs 
or  promoting  his  interests  we  say  neither  that  he 
governs  nor  that  he  is  governed.  Just  as  little 
can  we  say  so  of  a  society  of  individuals  who  form 
a  voluntary  association  for  a  common  purpose  and 
call  this  association  a  State.  And  if 'for  the  prac- 
tical attainment  of  their  purpose  they  entrust  or 
commission  certain  persons  with  certain  functions, 
the  exercise  of  these  functions  will  as  little  consti- 
tute an  authority  or  a  government  as  the  control  of 


POSTSCRIPT.  169 

a  joint-stock  company  or  any  other  joint  enterprise 
by  a  board  of  experts  and  trustees.  The  conception 
of  authority  ought,  therefore,  to  be  entirely  exclud- 
ed from  radical  political  thought,  and  with  it  the 
term  denoting  it.  The  term  republic  comes  much 
nearer  to  expressing  the  nature  of  a  free  State 
than  the  term  democracy.  The  most  proper  term 
perhaps  would  be,  the  commonwealth  (Gemeinwe- 
sen).  The  popular  conception  of  the  State  is  still 
tainted  by  the  dominating  influence  of  the  exam- 
ples of  the  past,  the  historical  models,  and  therefore 
most  men  cannot  conceive  of  even  the  freest  State 
without  a  dualism  of  the  people  and  a  special 
power  which  is  called  authority  and  government. 
Only  by  a  thorough  analysis  of  the  conceptions 
authority  and  government  do  we  reach  a  correct 
understanding  of  what  is  meant  to  be  expressed 
by  the  term  '  democracy,'  but  what  it  does  not 
express. 

"  It  is  surely  not  necessary  to  parry  the  objec- 
tion that  this  definition  of  the  State  will  lead  to 
what  in  its  bad  or  good  sense  is  called  Anarchy. 
Anarchy  in  its  bad  sense  is  barbarism,  and  in  its 
good  sense  an  impossibility.  State  and  Anarchy 
are  contradictions,  for  a  State  is  as  little  conceiv- 
able zvitlwut  as  Anarchy  with  organization. 

"  But  organization  in  the  free  State  is  nothing 
more  than  order  and  arrangement  of  business.  I 
should  therefore  define  it  thus :  The  State  is,  on  a 
common  ground,  an  association  of  free  and,  before 


I/O  POSTSCRIPT. 

the  law,  equal  individuals  for  the  object  of  facili- 
tating and  securing  the  realization  of  the  life  pur- 
poses of  each  individual  through  the  proper  au- 
thorized agents  by  means  of  their  jointly  created 
and  supervised  institutions,  laws,  and  resources. 

"  Such  a  definition  of  the  State — and  it  is  the 
only  correct  one — at  once  directs  each  to  the 
claims  that  he  has  to  make,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
to  the  task  that  he  has  to  perform.  It  makes  of 
him  as  it  were  a  State  business  partner,  but  it  also 
makes  the  degree  of  the  satisfaction  of  his  claims 
dependent  on  his  direct  and  indirect  participation 
in  the  administration  of  the  business. 

"  North  America  is  regarded  as  a  '  democratic  ' 
State,  and  the  people  in  general  have  learned  to 
put  faith  in  this  term.  The  true  significance  of 
this  term  must  become  plain  to  them  if,  in  the  con- 
templation of  existing  conditions  and  their  power 
of  influencing  them,  they  will  take  the  above  defini- 
tion for  a  standard.  It  will  appear  that  we  have 
indeed  an  authority  here,  but  an  authority  over  the 
people — a  relation  that  is  not  improved,  but  only 
made  worse,  by  the  fact  that  the  people  themselves 
elect  their  ruler  and  are  thus  under  the  illusion  that 
they  govern.  Whoever  has  made  this  clear  to  him- 
self, and  surveys  the  chasm  existing  between  the 
truly  free  State,  as  it  has  been  defined  above,  and 
the  State  we  actually  have  here,  he  alone  will  be 
able  to  correctly  estimate  the  consequences  of 
the  repeated   endeavors  to  still  farther  extend 


POSTSCRIPT.  171 

this  authority,  and  appreciate  the  necessity  of 
meeting  them  by  the  timely  spread  of  radical  con- 
ceptions of  the  State. 

"  It  having  already  been  sufficiently  discussed  in 
the  pamphlet  *  What  is  True  Democracy  ?',  I  re- 
frain in  this  place  from  any  further  exposition  of 
the  fundamentally  anti-democratic  representative 
system,  according  to  which  the  people  surrender 
themselves  powerlessly  into  the  hands  of  executive 
as  well  as  legislative  representatives  who  are  both 
irresponsible  and,  during  their  term  of  office,  in- 
accessible. The  essential  requirement  of  a  free 
people,  on  which  all  others  depend,  is  universal 
suffrage,  and  this  primary  right  is  partly  wanting 
entirely,  and  partly  threatened  where  it  exists. 

"All  reasons  which  are  brought  forward  to  justi- 
fy departures  from  universal  suffrage  are  only  sham 
reasons.  Not  only  the  considerations  of  human 
rights,  but  even  the  considerations  of  expediency, 
admit  of  absolutely  no  exception.  Logically  con- 
ceived and  carried  out,  exclusion  from  suffrage 
would  have  to  mean  exclusion  from  the  State  as 
well.  A  person  without  suffrage  is  an  alien,  while 
citizen  and  voter  must  be  identical.  Where  the 
principle  of  equal  rights  is  once  departed  from, 
there  no  longer  any  limit  is  to  be  drawn  fordisen- 
franchisement.  If  capacity  is  to  decide,  where 
then  is  incapacity  to  end  ?  And  who  is  to  judge 
of  capacity  ?  But  if  even  property  is  to  be  taken 
as  a  standard,  is  not  the  possessor  thus  by  a  two- 


172  POSTSCRIPT. 

fold  preponderance  made  completely  the  master 
of  the  dependent  poor  ?  There  is  no  more  mons- 
trous arrogance  than  to  grant  to  property  over 
and  above  the  advantages  it  already  confers  also 
the  privilege  of  authority,  a  privilege  to  which,  if 
it  were  ever  justifiable,  only  the  deepest  insight 
and  the  most  disinterested  concern  for  the  gen- 
eral welfare  could  grant  a  claim. 

"  The  dangers  which  are  predicted  by  the  oppo- 
nents of  equal  rights  are  only  imaginary,  and  in  the 
course  of  time  will  disappear  of  themselves.  The 
power  of  incapacity  decreases  with  increased  op- 
portunity to  test  itself ;  and  where,  as  a  result  of 
former  neglect,  it  causes  the  State  temporary  em- 
barrassments, the  latter  has  to  overcome  them  by  a 
proper  expiation  of  its  own  guilt.  The  State  is  as 
little  exempt  as  the  individual  from  the  necessity 
of  either  atoning  for  former  mistakes  by  righting 
them,  or  of  multiplying  them  to  work  its  own  ruin. 
The  negro  slaves  had  placed  this  country  before 
such  an  alternative,  and  it  decided  itself  for  the 
saving  expedient  in  the  eleventh  hour.  After 
justice  had  been  done  to  the  negroes,  at  least  as 
far  as  form  is  concerned,  the  women  knocked  at 
the  doors  of  the  Capitol.  We  too,  they  say,  are 
human  beings  and  are  called  citizens  ;  we  too  are 
a  part  of  the  people,  and  not  its  worst  part ;  we 
too  want  to  have  a  part  in  the  associated  business 
which  is  called  State.  You  speak  of  democracy 
and  exclude  one  half  of  society  from  it,  in  order 


POSTSCRIPT.  173 

that  you  as  privileged  class  and  usurpers  of  the 
State  may  rule  over  them.  Even  if  you  had  abol- 
ished all  other  forms  of  authority,  that  of  sex, 
the  most  senseless  of  all,  you  still  allow  to  stand. 
Do  you  fear,  perchance,  that  by  granting  us  equal 
rights  you  will  reap  the  fruits  of  the  education 
which  you  have  given  us  ?  Very  well  ;  it  is  in  your 
power  to  give  us  a  different  one.  Or  do  you  fear 
that  we  would  destroy  the  ruinous  fruits  of  your 
own  education  ?  Very  well ;  then  allow  them  to 
increase  until  they  have  ruined  you.  No  other 
outlet  will  lead  to  your  as  well  as  to  our  welfare 
than  justice,  and  the  sooner  you  will  practise  it 
the  better  it  will  be  both  for  you  and  for  us.  If 
you  do  not  wish  to  take  upon  yourself  the  risk  of 
the  transition,  then  take  upon  yourself  the  risk  of 
destruction. 

"  Upon  due  consideration  all  the  evils  and  dan- 
gers which  are  ascribed  to  the  realization  of  the 
equal  rights  of  man  in  the  State  are  only  tem- 
porary and  fancied.  In  any  case  this  realization  is 
a  categorical  imperative  of  evolution,  which  can 
be  silenced  only  by  an  honest  recognition,  and 
the  inauguration  and  preservation  of  universal 
suffrage  is  its  first  guarantee.  There  are  thou- 
sands who  possess  this  right  and  do  not  exercise 
it.  Whatever  the  reason  for  this  neglect  may  be, 
let  him  who  has  never  voted  hasten  to  the  polls 
at  least  when  the  issue  is  to  preserve  the  suffrage 
for  those  who  already  possess  it,  or  to  secure  it 
for  those  who  still  want  it."  K.  S. 


PREFACE  TO  PART  II. 

At  last  I  am  in  the  position  to  fulfill  my  promise 
stated  at  the  conclusion  of  my  preface  to  the  first 
edition  of  "The  Rights  of  Women,"  namely:  "to 
continue  the  publication  in  English  translation  of 
the  immortal  treasures  of  Heinzen's  thoughts  and 
thus  make  them  accessible  to  the  American  read- 
ing public."  Seven  years  have  elapsed  since,  and  I 
feel  in  duty  bound  to  say  that  adverse  circumstances 
of  a  peculiar  nature,  which  I  do  not  care  to  enlarge 
upon  here,  were  responsible  for  the  long  delay  in 
publishing  the  enlarged  volume,  the  manuscript 
whereof  had  been  ready  for  the  press  a  long  time 
ago.  However,  I  desire  to  say  this  much:  Said 
delay  was  not  due  to  an  insufficient  or  a  tardy  sale 
of  the  book,  which,  on  the  contrary,  sold  so  well 
that  the  2,500  copies  of  the  first  edition  were  dis- 
posed of  within  a  imonth  after  publication,  and  a 
second  edition  had  to  be  printed.  I  cherish  the 
hope  that  the  present  work  will  fare  as  well, 
for    its    excellent    contents  certainly  merit  it,  the 


176  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

same  being  fully  of  the  high  standard  of  its 
predecessor,  mirroring  the  brilliant  genius  of 
the  author  on  every  page.  Its  tendency  concerns 
mainly  the  emancipation  of  women  as  to  the  political 
and  social  aspect  of  the  question,  while  the  first 
part  almost  exclusively  treats  upon  the  sexual  rela- 
tions. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  for  the  information 
of  the  reader  that  the  "Convention  of  German 
women  in  Frauenstadt"  is  a  fiction,  but  it  may  not 
be  amiss  to  remark  that  the  report  of  the  same  ap- 
peared for  the  first  time  in  1869  in  the  form  of  an 
editorial  correspondence  in  "Der  Pionier,"  a  weekly 
paper  edited  and  published  by  Heinzen  in  Boston 
for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  until  1879, 
when  a  serious  illness  of  Heinzen,  caused  by  an 
apoplectic  stroke,  imperiously  demanded  the  cessa- 
tion of  his  literary  work,  and  in  consequence  there- 
of the  discontinuance  of  the  publication  *of  "Der 
Pionier."  This  fearless  weekly  during  its  existence 
gladdened  the  hearts  and  fired  the  courage  of  its 
readers  by  the  presentation  in  its  columns  of  the 
most  thorough-going  investigations  and  elucida- 
tions in  every  department  of  useful  knowledge  —  lit- 
erary, political,  economical  and  ethical  treatises 
being  the  topics  of  every  issue.  Its  appearance  was  an 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  *77 

ever  occurring  holiday  to  the  educated,  cultured  and 
progressive  minds  of  honest  truth-seekers,  from  the 
first  number  to  the  last;  it  is  safe  to  say  that  at  no 
time  and  among  no  nation  there  ever  was  published 
a  paper  that  breathed  a  like  independent,  bold  and 
humane  spirit.  Heinzen  was  among  the  first  in- 
trepid champions  of  the  emancipation  of  woman, 
incessantly  vindicating  the  rights  of  the  fair  sex  to 
liberate  the  better  half  of  mankind  from  the  despot- 
ism of  the  "lord  and  master,"  and  the  drudgery  of 
a  degrading  thraldom. 

Regarding  his  controversy  with  Arnold  Ruge, 
the  renowned  German  philosopher,  who  lived  at 
that  time  in  exile  at  Brighton,  England,  about  the 
emancipation  and  rights  of  women,  which  appeared 
also  in  "Der  Pionier"  in  the  year  1855,  it  may  be 
necessary  to  explain  that  the  same  was  carried  on 
by  him  under  the  nom  de  plume  of  Luise  Meyen. 
It  created  not  a  small  sensation  in  the  German  liter- 
ary world;  the  wonderful  logic,  boldness  and  poet- 
ical beauty  that  characterize  the  utterances  of 
the  intrepid  Luise  were  without  comparison,  and 
considering  the  fact  that  they  were  uttered  by  a 
woman  on  a  subject  at  that  time  yet  so  foreign  even 
to  the  advanced  mind,  the  readers  were  puzzled  as 
to  the  genuineness  of  the  authoress'  name.    A  large 


178  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

number  of  curious  inquiries  rained  upon  the  editor 
in  reference  to  the  real  existence  and  whereabouts 
of  Luise  Meyen.  Similar  occurrences  repeated 
themselves  in  regard  to  Julie  vom  Berg  and  other 
pseudonyms  which  Heinzen,  for  the  sake  of  anima- 
tion and  diversion,  occasionally  assumed. 

The  detested  cause  of  the  emancipation  of  woman 
was  espoused  by  Heinzen  at  a  time  when  it  required 
more  than  ordinary  moral  courage  to  do  so,  but  in 
spite  of  the  scorn  and  ostracism  of  his  fellow-citi- 
zens there  was  with  him  only  one  divinity,  Reason ; 
only  one  worship,  the  cultivation  of  Truth ;  only  one 
Right,  the  right  to  life  and  liberty;  only  one  Duty, 
the  duty  of  assisting  mankind  to  happiness. 

I  desire  yet  to  state  that  "Der  Pionier"  had  a 
world-wide  reputation  and  circulation,  wherever  the 
German  tongue  reigned;  in  Europe  and  America  it 
had  its  readers  among  the  most  advanced  and  cul- 
tured minds,  and  when  the  report  of  the  fictitious 
convention  first  appeared  therein  in  such  a  master- 
ful style  and  imitation  it  created  an  unusual  sensa- 
tion here  and  abroad. 

The  collected  works  of  Heinzen  as  far  as  pub- 
lished constitute  eleven  volumes,  the  translation  of 
which  into  English  and  their  publication  in  that 
language  is  a  task  gradually  to  be  accomplished. 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  179 

The  time  advances  and  heretofore  unpopular  radical 
ideas  lose  their  horror  and  become  more  and  more 
the  property  of  the  masses. 

In  conclusion  I  take  the  liberty  of  announcing  to 
the  reader  that  the  next  volume  I  expect  to  publish 
will  contain  a  series  of  Heinzen's  immortal  philo- 
sophical, political  and  ethical  essays,  treatises  and 
lectures,  namely,  "Six  Letters  to  a  Pious  Man;" 
"Man's  Relation  to  Nature,"  "Happiness  and  Un- 
happiness  ;"  "Has  the  World  a  Purpose?"  "The  Ger- 
mans and  the  Americans;"  "Truth;"  "Mankind  the 
Criminal;"  "The  Future;"  "What  Is  Humanity?" 
"The  True  Character  of  Humboldt"  (an  oration); 
"What  Is  Real  Democracy?"  "Communism  and  So- 
cialism;" "Bad  Virtues  and  Good  Vices." 

KARL  SCHMEMANN. 
Detroit,  Mich.,  October,  1898. 


PART  II. 


LUISE    MEYEN    ON    MEN    AND   WOMEN. 

(From  "Der  Pionier"  of  July  15,  1855.) 

THE    RIGHTS    AND    CONDITION    OF 
WOMEN. 

OPEN    LETTER    TO    DR.   A.    RUGE,  LONDON. 

In  No.  25  of  "Der  Pionier"  I  have  read  a  corre- 
spondence in  which  you  express  yourself  in  such  a 
peculiar  manner,  on  the  legitimate  sphere  of  my 
sex,  that  I  take  the  liberty  to  ask  you  for  further 
elucidation  of  your  views  on  this  point.  I  beg  you 
to  pardon  my  audacity  as  due  to  the  special  interest 
that  every  liberal  minded  member  of  the  feminine 
sex  takes  in  hearing  thoughtful  men  express  them- 
selves exhaustively  and  frankly,  on  a  question  that 
is  still  conceived  of  in  such  different  ways.  While 
one  man  would  have  every  difference  in  the  rights 
of  the  male  and  female  sex  abolished,  and  have  all 
treated  as  human  beings,  on  a  footing  of  perfect 
equality,  others,  who  likewise  lay  claim  to  a  correct 
judgment,  leave  the  human  being  out  of  considera- 
tion entirely,  and  consider  only  sex,  and  would  en- 
dow each  with  different  rights,  according  to  its 
weakness,  or  the  mission  ascribed  to  it.  You  must 
not  be  surprised,  after  your  remarks  in  "Der  Pio- 


1 82  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

nier,"  if  I  count  you  among  the  latter  —  that  is, 
among  those  men  who,  ascribing  certain  occupa- 
tions and  duties  to  women,  would  mete  out  rights 
to  them  according  to  man's  estimate  of  these  duties. 
Yes,  permit  me  to  say,  you  treat  women  as  beings  of 
such  inferiority  that  you  deal  out  our  rights  to  us 
with  the  soup  ladle,  as  it  were.  For  the  chief  ob- 
jection, which  you  seem  inclined  to  oppose  to  equal 
rights,  is  contained  in  the  remark  that  the  domestic 
affairs,  especially  the  kitchen,  would  have  to  suffer 
if  women  were  to  take  part  in  public  life.  Do  you 
really  wish  to  be  taken  seriously?  Granted  that  the 
household  could  not  be  so  promptly  attended  to  as 
it  is  now;  granted  that  men's  gallantry  would  not 
also  improve  with  their  improved  sense  of  justice 
toward  us,  so  that  they  would  not  be  willing  to  pre- 
pare their  own  coffee  occasionally,  while  we  at- 
tended a  meeting,  I  ask  only  this:  Do  you  place 
the  kitchen  above  human  rights?  I  do  not  be- 
grudge men  anything  that  they  desire,  but  I  must 
openly  declare,  if  they  want  their  kitchen  run  at 
the  expense  of  our  human  rights  they  are  welcome 
to  a  thorough  fast,  now  and  then,  that  they  may 
learn  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Rather  than  teach 
men  that  the  weaker  sex  has  fewer  rights  than  they, 
because  it  must  cook  for  them,  they  ought  them- 
selves to  be  taught  to  cook,  instead  of  Greek  and 
Latin. 

That  the  kitchen  will  have  to  suffer  when  men 
spend  half  of  each  day  in  the  saloon,  and  half  of 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  183 

their  income  for  drink,  tobacco,  etc.,  and  that  this 
is  a  real  calamity  for  the  household,  and  the  family, 
no  one  seems  to  take  into  account,  in  considering 
the  theory  of  human  rights;  but  if  women  were 
granted  the  liberty  to  devote  a  few  hours  weekly  or 
monthly  to  attending  meetings  and  deliberations  on 
their  human  rights,  this  would,  according  to  your 
opinion,  be  as  great  a  misfortune  for  the  household 
and  the  family  as  "if  the  husband  should  fall  on  the 
battlefield."  How  little  men's  ideas  of  rights  have 
yet  been  developed  or  purified  is  proved  by  nothing 
so  much  as  by  the  fact  that  they  would  sooner  deny 
the  rights  of  women  than  find  any  fault  with  their 
abuse  of  their  own  rights. 

I  must  confess  that  remarks  which  apply  the 
standard  of  kitchen  interests  to  the  human  rights 
of  women  struck  me  as  rather  strange  in  the  mouth 
of  a  man  whom  I  class  among  our  acutest  thinkers 
and  most  humane  politicians.  According  to  your 
theory,  we  women  would  have  some  prospects  of 
attaining  our  rights  if  there  were  no  cooking  to  be 
done.  You  thus  make  us  wish  that  humanity  might 
return  to  a  state  of  nature  in  which  the  men  would' 
not  even  be  the  masters  of  the  house,  because  there 
would  be  no  houses,  and  would  be  glad  to.  eat  their 
food  raw. 

As  a  man  of  principle  you  must  admit  that,  in  as- 
certaining rights,  the  difficulties  that  existing  con- 
ditions of  disqualification  place  in  the  way  of  their 
practical  realization  can  not  be  taken  into  account. 


1 84  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

In  practice,  this  point  will  receive  due  attention  of 
its  own  accord ;  in  theory  we  have  only  to  establish 
the  principle,  pure  and  simple,  and  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  we  are  still  occupied  with  the  mere  theory.  The 
question  then  is  simply  this:  are  we  women  human 
beings,  as  well  as  the  men,  and  have  we,  accordingly, 
the  same  human  rights,  or  no?  Do  we  exist  for  our 
own  sake,  or  do  we  exist  only  as  the  slaves  of  men? 
Are  we  therefore  entitled  to  participate  in  the  mak- 
ing of  the  laws,  which  we  are  to  obey  in  human  so- 
ciety, or  must  we  allow  men  to  dictate  these  laws  to 
us?  Have  we  a  right  to  assert  our  wishes  and  inter- 
ests in  the  social  institutions,  or  must  we,  without 
choice,  be  content  with  the  institutions  which  men 
alone  have  created?  Is  our  intelligence,  our  opposi- 
tion, our  voice,  to  direct  our  fate,  or  are  we,  in  blind 
submission,  to  recognize  and  acknowledge  men  as 
our  providence  and  our  gods? 

Only  after  these  questions,  whose  consequences 
will  then  present  themselves  as  a  matter  of  course, 
have  been  answered,  a  consideration  of  the  practical 
difficulties,  which  never  yet  have  killed  a  correct 
principle,  will  be  in  order. 

You  are  in  favor  of  the  emancipation  of  the  negro 
slaves,  and  will  not  deny  them  a  hair's  breadth  of 
the  rights  which  you  claim  for  yourself.  But  is  there 
any  question  which  presents  greater  practical  diffi- 
culties than  this?  You  can  change  a  monarchy  into 
a  republic  over  night,  but  it  will  take  a  whole  life- 
time to  change  negro  slaves  into  beings  who  will 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  185 

know  how  to  use  their  human  rights,  and,  moreover, 
the  "households"  of  their  present  "owners"  would 
receive  quite  a  different  shock  by  the  emancipation 
of  the  slave  than  would  that  of  a  republican  or  so- 
cialist, if  his  wife  were  to  take  part  in  a  deliberation, 
on,  let  us  say,  the  reformation  of  the  marriage  laws. 
Yet  these  difficulties  are  nothing  to  you,  in  tne  dis- 
cussion of  the  question,  whether  negroes  are  human 
beings  and  have  human  rights. 

But  while  you  are  liberal  and  just  toward  the  ne- 
groes, do  you  want  to  place  women  below  the  ne- 
gro? The  interests  of  the  slave-owner  are  none  of 
your  concern,  in  the  emancipation  of  the  negro  ;  but 
will  you  let  the  privilege  of  the  frying-pan  concern 
you  in  the  emancipation  of  women? 

Do  not  think  that  I  am  cruelly  indifferent  to  the 
dreadful  suffering  that  men  would  be  subjected  to  if 
their  emancipated  wives  would  occasionally  allow 
the  roast  to  scorch,  or  if  the  coffee  should  be  served 
five  minutes  later  than  usual,  or  if  a  missing  button 
could  not  be  instantly  replaced.  No,  indeed,  I  appre- 
ciate this  auffering  thoroughly,  and  I  sympathize 
beforehand  with  all  men  who  may  meet  with  such  a 
fate.  But  I  take  comfort  in  the  thought  that  devel- 
opment is  never  onesided,  that  inventions  for  the 
common  good  will  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  prog- 
ress in  human  rights,  and  that  when  once  we  shall 
have  progressed  as  far  as  "the  emancipation  of 
woman,"  we  shall  also  have  learned  the  art  of  secur- 
ing ithe  roast  against  scorching,  of  always  keeping 


1 86  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

the  coffee  in  readiness,  and  of  fastening  buttons, 
without  the  aid  of  a  needle.  It  is  only  necessary  for 
us  women  to  fully  realize  wherein  the  obstacle 
against  our  emancipation  really  consists,  and  when 
men  have  called  our  attention  to  the  fact,  that  we 
must  look  for  it  in  the  defective  cooking  appliances, 
etc.,  we  shall  certainly  give  all  our  thought  and  en- 
ergy to  perfecting  them. 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  ^7 


OPEN   LETTER  TO   DR.  ARNOLD   RUGE, 

LONDON. 

(From  "Der  Pionier"  of  Oct.  7,  1855) 

Your  answer  to  my  provocation,  as  you  call  it, 
has,  in  spite  of  all  your  protestations  to  the  contrary, 
only  strengthened  my  suspicion  that  in  your  heart 
you  have  a  poor  opinion  of  women,  and  do  not  con- 
cede them  equal  rights  with  men.  Or,  indeed,  if  I 
am  to  spare  you  this  suspicion,  I  can  do  it  only  by 
taking  recourse  to  a  supposition  which  is  equally 
far  from  being  flattering,  namely,  that  you  have  not 
yet  comprehended,  or  are  not  able  to  comprehend, 
what  a  woman's  purpose  really  is,  when  she  desires 
to  become  a  free  human  being. 

First,  I  wish  to  set  you  at  ease  with  regard  to  my 
personal  position,  as  it  seems  to  be  of  importance  to 
you  in  the  treatment  of  the  question  at  issue,  whether 
I  am  Mrs.  or  a  Miss.  I  am  neither,  and  do  not  want 
to  be  either  of  the  two,  'but  I  place  some  value  upon 
being  a  "woman,"  to  ithe  use  of  which  term  in  the 
essay  of  Mr.  Heinzen  you  do  object.  I  have  not 
looked  for,  or  addressed,  either  the  husband  or  the 
bachelor  in  you,  but  the  man,  or  the  male  human 
being;  why  do  you  not  content  yourself  with  the 
woman,  or  the  female  human  being?  The  subject 
of  our  controversy  is  human  rights,  but  neither 
Mrs.'  nor  Misses'  rights. 


1 88  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

But  least  of  all  are  we  concerned  with  the  rights 
of  "beauty."  You  address  me  as  "fair  lady"  and 
"beautiful  Luise."  How  do  you  know  that  I  am 
beautiful,  and  what  has  beauty  to  do  with  our 
question?  Do  you  share  the  belief  of  the  officers  of 
the  guards  who  have  such  a  high  opinion  of  women 
that  they  expect  their  stock  compliments  to  be  ef- 
fective in  every  case,  whether  they  are  appropriate 
or  not?  I  have  long  since  outgrown  the  folly  of 
considering  beauty  as  of  chief  importance,  or  of 
feeling  flattered  on  being  admired;  but  if  I  had  not 
yet  outgrown  it,  beauty  would  lose  greatly  in  my 
estimation,  by  seeing  it  degraded  to  serve  as  a  stock 
compliment  to  a  philosopher  who  has  never  seen 
me.  As  little  as  it  is  to  the  credit  of  friendship  to 
have  everybody  address  the  next  one  as  "dear 
friend,"  so  little  is  it  to  the  advantage  of  beauty,  to 
call  an  unknown  person  beautiful,  at  random,  who 
may  possibly  be  very  homely.  What  would  you 
say  if  I  were  to  address  you  as  "pretty  sir"  or  "beau- 
tiful Arnold?"  I  do  not  know  whether  you  deserve 
such  an  appellation.  But  even  if  I  knew  you  to  be 
an  Apollo,  I  would  not  call  you  so,  in  an  open  letter, 
in  order  not  to  wrong  your  beauty  by  an  appearance 
of  mere  flattery;  and  if  I  were  in  doubt  about  it,  I 
would  all  the  more  refrain  from  speaking,  in  order 
not  to  offend  you  with  what  might  possibly  be  irony. 
But  why,  I  ask,  do  you  not  observe  the  same  atti- 
tude toward  me?  Because  you  ■ —  you  yourself  have 
asked  not  to  be  spared — with  the  contemptuous  air 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  189 

of  an  officer  of  the  guards,  regard  women  as  inferior 
beings,  or  toys,  whom  you  think  to  amuse  with  the 
most  trivial  flatteries,  or  with  compliments  which 
sound  doubly  shallow,  coming  from  such  as  you; 
or  whom  you  think  to  silence  with  a  bit  of  irony.  It 
is  an  apparently  trivial  matter  to  which  I  am  here 
giving  so  much  space,  but  you  will  have  to  admit 
that  there  is  more  in  it  than  most  men  think,  and,  I 
add,  most  women,  too.  That  the  majority  of  my 
sex  take  these  shallow  compliments,  which  at  bot- 
tom are  nothing  but  insults,  as  signs  of  respect,  has 
often  made  me  indignant,  and  I  could  only  excuse 
them  on  the  ground  that  their  education  by  men 
has  left  their  minds  so  empty  that  they  cannot  attain 
to  any  consciousness  of  their  position  and  dignity. 

I  shall  now  take  up  the  important  points.  The 
emancipation  of  woman  seems  to  me  to  be  an  ex- 
pression not  well  chosen,  and  easily  misunderstood. 
What  is  necessary  is  not  to  emancipate  the  woman, 
but  rather  the  human  being  in  the  woman.  If  we 
speak  of  the  emancipation  of  woman,  men  at  once 
assume  that  woman  is  to  be  introduced  into  an  un- 
womanly sphere;  but  the  emancipation  of  the 
human  being  in  woman  signifies  that  she  is  to  come 
into  possession  of  the  common  human  rights,  of 
which  she  is  still  for  the  most  part  dispossessed, 
and  which  nobody  can  deny  her  upon  any  tenable 
grounds.  Self-determination,  the  preservation  of 
our  human  rights,  without  let  or  hindrance  in  every 
direction,  the  possibility  of  educating  ourselves  for 


i  go  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

everything  for  which  we  have  any  inclination  or 
calling,  the  pursuit  of  our  happiness  according  to 
our  own  judgment  and  our  own  will,  that  is  what 
the  female  human  being  must  be  able  to  claim  for 
herself,  as  well  as  the  male,  but  that  is  what  is  still 
everywhere,  directly  or  indirectly,  denied  her,  and 
withheld  from  her. 

I  would  not  have  thought  it  possible  that  even 
you  would  have  resource  to  the  untenable  objec- 
tions which  I  have  hundreds  of  times  been  obliged 
to  refute  in  conversation,  but  which  are  almost  sure 
to  be  brought  up  again,  as  often  as  the  rights  of 
the  female  being  are  discussed  with  a  male  being. 
You,  too,  persuade  yourself,  or  try  to  persuade  your 
readers,  that  we  women  demanded  —  how  abso- 
lutely crazy  —  with  this  emancipation  of  ours,  the 
liberty  to  shoulder  a  musket,  to  be  pressed  into  a 
regiment  of  soldiers,  to  go  to  sea  as  sailors,  in  short, 
to  do  just  those  very. things  which  are  quite  as  con- 
trary to  our  wishes  as  to  our  nature.  What  would 
you  say,  if  I  should  keep  my  canary  bird  caged  lest 
he  fall  upon  and  devour  my  doves  and  hens?  Men 
treat  us  just  as  idiotically  as  I  would  in  such  a  case 
treat  my  canary  bird.  Of  a  canary  bird  you  expect 
that  in  a  state  of  liberty  he  would  follow  his  nature, 
and  use  his  faculties,  but  of  a  woman  you  expect 
that  in  a  state  of  liberty  she  would  change  her  na- 
ture, and  force  herself  to  do  things  for  which  she 
has  as  little  ability  as  inclination.  How  you  come 
to  such  assumptions  is  absolutely  incomprehens-r 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  191 

ible  to  me.  Do  we  fear,  perhaps,  that  emancipated 
men  would  seize  our  knitting,  or  sit  down  by  the 
embroidery  frame?  Or  do  you,  too,  want  to  frighten 
us  with  that  bugbear  of  public  duty,  and  deny  us 
the  use  of  our  rights,  because  we  are  not  able  to 
undertake  everything  that  the  present  condition  of 
society  imposes  on  its  members,  as  a  duty?  Should 
we  be  slaves,  because  we  are  not  able,  for  instance, 
to  become  instruments  for  the  preservation  of  slav- 
ery— that  is,  soldiers — like  the  men?  But  even  men, 
among  themselves,  do  not  measure  their  rights,  ac- 
cording to  their  respective  abilities,  to  fulfill  public 
duties.  The  weak,  the  cripples,  are  absolved  from 
military  service,  without,  therefore,  being  deprived 
of  the  least  of  their  human  and  civil  rights;  but 
women  are  to  be  disfranchised,  because  they  have 
not  the  nature  or  the  limbs  of  a  grenadier.  Whence 
this  contradiction? 

I  think  you  may  just  as  well  lay  aside  your  anxiety 
that  we  would  crowd  upon  the  battlefields  and  ships, 
if  the  right  were  granted  us  to  do  that  which  our 
ability  and  inclination  leads  us  to  do,  as  you  might 
have  spared  us  the  lesson  that  we  —  women  —  are 
not  men.  You  may  take  offense  or  not,  but  I  must 
tell  you  frankly  that  at  first,  of  course  only  at  first, 
I  laughed  aloud  when  I  learned  from  your  answer 
that  it  was  the  destiny  of  women  to  become  mothers. 
In  order  to  learn  that,  Mr.  Ruge,  no  one  need  study 
philosophy;  nor  need  a  philosopher  fear  that  we 
might  unlearn  this  destiny,  or  be  tempted  to  be- 


192  THE  BIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

come  fathers.  You  will,  indeed,  have  to  admit  that 
we  have  never  extended  such  compliments  to  the 
masculine  intellect  as  you  have  <to  the  feminine.  It 
has  never  occurred  to  a  woman  to  teach  man  that 
it  is  their  destiny  to  become  fathers.  I  am  almost 
tempted  to  interpret  your  words  as  the  most  bitter 
irony.  That  men  have  denied  us  the  right  to  be- 
come mothers,  that  complaint,  Mr.  Ruge,  we  surely 
never  had  any  occasion  to  make.* 

If  they  had  always  been  as  solicitous  about  every- 
thing else  as  they  have  been  about  maternity,  we 

♦Just  after  I  had  read  your  admonitions  upon  our 
destiny  to  become  mothers,  I  accidentally  came  across  a 
statistical  notice,  from  which  I  gathered  the  following. 
The  number  of  the  known  criminal  assaults  against  women, 
for  the  year  1854,  in  this  "free  country,"  is  no  less  than 
three  thousand  five  hundred.  In  forty-eight  of  these  cases 
the  violated  woman  was  likewise  murdered,  or  died  in 
consequence  of  the  injuries  she  had  received.  One  hun- 
dred and  eighty-nine  women  committed  suicide,  and  of 
these  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  did  so  in  consequence 
of  seduction  or  rape. 

.Whoever  is  acquainted  with  local  conditions  will  not 
accuse  me  of  exaggeration  if  I  double  these  known  cases, 
by  way  of  adding  those  that  have  not  become  known. 

We  would  thus  have  before  us,  for  a  single  year,  at  least 
ten  thousand  men  who,  as  criminals,  professed  the  doc- 
trine of  the  destiny  of  women  to  become  mothers. 

Do  not  think  that  I  intend  this  statistical  information  as 
a  complement  to  yours.  But  you  can  surely  not  blame  me 
if  I  call  upon  the  friends  of  humanity,  who  lecture  women 
on  motherhood,  to  first  help  make  them  free,  fully  qualified 
human  beings,  in  humane  conditions. 

If  women  had  the  right  to  humanize  these  conditions, 
surely  the  time  would  soon  be  past  when  men  could  be- 
come beasts  with  impunity. 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  193 

women  would  never  have  had  any  cause  of  com- 
plaint. No,  they  do  not  hinder  us  from  becoming 
mothers,  any  more  than  from  becoming  cooks,  and 
it  is  always  either  the  hearth  or  the  cradle,  to  which 
they  refer  us  when  we  speak  of  our  human  rights. 
Has  a  woman  ever  objected  on  the  ground  of  pa- 
ternity, when  a  man  claimed  his  human  rights?  No 
more  than  it  ever  occurred  to  a  woman  to  deny  a 
man  the  right  of  suffrage  because  he  was  by  pro- 
fession a  tailor,  a  baker,  etc.  But  how  is  it  with 
the  rights  of  those  women  who  have  never  been 
mothers,  or  who  have  met  with  the  fate  of  Niobe? 
According  to  your  logic,  they  have  no  destiny  as 
human  beings,  and  whoever  has  no  destiny,  why 
should  he  have  rights? 

But  I  want  to  examine  your  information  concern- 
ing maternity  from  another  point  of  view.  Just  be- 
cause she  is  a  mother,  woman  has  double  claims 
upon  the  exercise  of  rights  which  man  assumes  for 
himself  alone.  Just  because  of  maternity  she  must 
demand  that  she  shall  not,  on  account  of  social  con- 
ditions, which  she  cannot  change  without  being 
fully  qualified  as  a  human  being  and  a  citizen,  be 
driven  perhaps  from  want,  into  the  arms  of  a  man, 
through  whom  she  would  never  have  become  a 
mother,  could  she  have  acted  independently;  just 
because  she  is  a  mother,  she  must  demand  such  an 
education  as  will  fit  her  to  become  the  educator  of 
her  child;  just  because  she  is  a  mother,  she  has  the 
deepest  interest  in  exerting  an  influence  upon  those 


194  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

state  institutions  in  which  the  fate  of  her  child  is 
hereafter  decided;  just  because  she  is  a  mother,  she 
must  be  able  to  exert  an  influence  in  the  passing  of 
laws,  through  which  she,  to  her  own  and  her  chil- 
drens'  ruin,  may  be  held  in  hateful  bondage;  just 
because  she  is  a  mother,  she  must  demand  the  possi- 
bility of  occupying  an  independent  position,  in 
order  to  be  still  a  mother,  after  the  father  has  ceased 
to  be  a  father;  just  because  she  is  a  mother,  she  must 
strive  to  assist  in  changing  conditions,  which  are 
daily  cursed  by  infanticides;  just  because  she  is  a 
mother,  she  must  have  a  right  to  her  child,  which 
the  man  can  now  take  from  her  by  force,  if  his  com- 
pany has  become  unbearable  to  her;  just  because 
she  is  a  mother,  she  must  wish  to  have  a  right  to 
influence  conditions,  which  compel  her  to  be  a  help- 
less spectator,  when  her  children  are  led  out  to  be 
slaughtered,  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  whim  of  a  despot, 
or  the  savage  taste  of  the  rabble. 

Thus  you  see  that  instead  of  avoiding  public  life, 
on  account  of  our  maternity,  we  have,  just  on 
account  of  our  maternity,  the  very  deepest  interest 
in  gaining  an  influence  upon  public  life. 

But  I  am  surprised  at  my  own  fervor  when  I  had 
made  up  my  mind  to  answer  you  in  the  calmest 
manner.  Perhaps  it  has  annoyed  me  to  hear  you 
express  opinions  that  I  had  expected  of  you,  least 
of  all,  and  this  is  the  only  way  I  can  return  your 
compliments. 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  195 


MEN. 

(From  "Der  Pionier"  of  Oct.  14  and  15,  1855.) 
Mr.  Editor — On  a  former  occasion  you  had  asked 
me  to  speak  without  reserve  in  the  columns  of  "Der 
Pionier/'  I  comply  with  this  request  all  the  more 
willingly  because  it  was  needless  in  my  case.  I  have 
always  been  in  the  habit  of  speaking  my  mind  freely, 
which,  as  I  have  often  been  told,  is  not  considered 
"wise;"  but  I  could  never  see  why  it  should  be  less 
wise,  not  to  suppress  my  convictions,  not  to  give  up 
my  right,  and  not  to  sacrifice  my  freedom,  than  tOj 
make  my  regard  for  the  weakness,  the  folly,  and  the 
errors  of  others  the  law  of  my  actions.  Least  of  all 
can  I  think  of  this  to-day,  when  I  have  made  up  my 
mind  to  discuss  a  subject  which,  according  to  my 
opinion,  cannot  be  treated  inconsiderately  enough. 
Shakspeare  says  "Frailty,  thy  name  is  woman." 
No  one  would  contradict  me  less  than  Shakspeare 
himself,  if  I  should  say,  "Deception,  thy  name  is 
man!"  I  shall  not  take  the  trouble  to  prove  what 
mountains  of  lies  men  have  left  behind  them,  when- 
ever they  have  entered  the  realm  of  history;  it  is 
sufficient  for  my  purpose  to  show,  first  of  all,  that 
their  whole  relationship  to  us  women  has  ever  been 
one  of  lies.  Just  as  every  tyrant  lies,  must  lie,  so 
men  also  have  always  lied,  because  they  were  our 


igt>  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

tyrants.  Whether  they  coddled  us  with  compli- 
ments, or  pretended  to  hate  us,  whether  they  granted 
us  privileges  or  disqualified  us,  whether  they  carried 
us  on  their  hands,  or  trod  us  under  their  feet,  they 
never  were  true,  never  could  be  true,  because  they 
always  proceeded  from  the  great  fundamental  lie, 
that  we  did  not  possess  the  same  human  rights  as 
they,  that  we  are  subordinate  beings,  that  we  must 
be  their  tools.  Complete  recognition  of  our  equality 
of  rights  —  that  is  the  first,  the  indispensable  condi- 
tion, for  the  possibility  that  men  cease  to  be  liars 
toward  women. 

It  is  not  possible  for  any  one  to  commit  them- 
selves more  naively  than  men  do,  concerning  their 
untruthful  attitude  toward  women,  when  their  argu- 
ments, which  they  oppose  to  our  so-called  emanci- 
pation, are  attacked.  I  have  always  found  that  the 
chief  objections  behind  which  the  more  intelligent 
and  refined  among  the  men  —  of  the  rest  I  do  not 
wish  to  speak  at  all  —  always  entrench  themselves, 
simply  amount  to  this :  that  men  in  general  are  not 
sufficiently  humanized  to  make  it  possible  for  free 
women  to  exist  among  them. 

Well,  that  is  at  least  the  beginning  of  truth.  It  is 
a  most  interesting  confession,  even  if  it  is  a  poor 
proof.  What  answer  would  you,  <as  free  men,  give  a 
slaveholder,  who  confessed  to  you  that  his  brutality 
and  egotism  did  not  allow  him  to  grant  his  slaves 
the  right  to  freedom?  Would  you  accept  this  as  a 
proof  against  the  right  of  the  slave? 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  197 

But  you  place  yourself  entirely  on  the  ground  of 
the  slaveholder.  You  only  go  a  step  further,  and,  in 
denying  us  our  rights,  tender  us  compliments  at 
your  own  expense.  You  hold  these  compliments  so 
cheap  that  you  are  even  willing,  to  throw  a  part  of 
your  reason,  and  your  honor,  into  the  bargain,  if 
we  will  only  accept  them.  We  are  such  delicate 
plants  that  we  cannot  flourish  in  the  wild  climate  of 
masculine  brutality,  without  a  protecting  hedge  and 
cover  —  that  is  the  sense  of  the  compliments  in 
which  you  clothe  your  last  proofs  against  our  equal- 
ity of  rights. 

Men  would  very  soon  come  to  recognize  our 
human  rights,  even  without  compliments,  if  we  had 
the  power  to  enforce  them.  Backed  by  an  army  of 
sharpshooters,  and  every  woman  will  be  recognized 
by  men,  not  only  as  their  equal  in  rights,  but  also 
honored  like  a  czarina,  and  worshiped  like  a  god- 
dess. Fortunate  for  us  all  that  we  women  have  no 
sharpshooters  at  our  command!  If,  indeed,  en- 
forced rights  cannot  be  enjoyed  in  peace,  security 
and  happiness,  till  after  their  opponents  have  been 
put  out  of  harm's  way,  we  women  would  have  to 
wage  an  endless  war  for  our  rights,  a  war,  in  the 
real  sense  of  the  word,  "to  the  last  man."  Ought 
we  to  exterminate  the  men,  in  order  to  become  free? 
Fear  not,  oh  noble  heroes!  You  alone  require  force 
to  become  free;  all  that  we  need  is  the  renunciation 
of  force.  It  is  our  pride,  as  well  as  our  consolation, 
that  humanity  alone,  and  not  iron,  can  free  us  from 


198  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

tyranny,  and  you  from  your  lies.  The  triumph  of 
weakness  over  strength,  through  the  sentiments  of 
humanity,  that  is  the  surest  and  noblest  triumph 
that  we  can  think  of,  and  can  wish  for,  and  this 
triumph  is  exclusively  feminine. 

It  is  a  lie,  therefore,  when  men  deny  our  equality 
of  rights,  and  it  is  a  daughter  of  this  lie,  when  they, 
instead  of  acknowledging  their  own  unfitness  for  a 
state  of  humane  equality,  try  to  make  it  appear  as 
though  we  were  not  yet  adapted  to  equality.  As 
soon  as  men  begin  to  be  truly  humane  beings,  they 
will  cease  to  oppose  the  equality  of  women ;  only  so 
long  as  they  remain  brutal  egotists  will  they  protest 
against  humanity  without  the  bones  of  a  grenadier, 
i.  e.,  the  women,  sharing  their  dominion. 

But  if  that  were  all  we  could  await  the  future  more 
calmly,  for  it  would  indeed  be  a  difficult  task  for  us 
to  attempt,  as  a  humanizing  element,  to  mitigate  the 
rule  of  men  in  the  domain  of  politics,  at  a  time  when 
they  still  regard  it  as  the  greatest  honor  to  slay 
each  other  by  the  hundred  thousand,  without  know- 
ing why ;  when  millions  of  them  still  stand  prepared 
like  gladiators,  to  fall  upon  each  other  at  the  com- 
mand of  some  emperor,  to  tear  each  other  to  pieces, 
and  fertilize  the  earth  with  streams  of  blood.  Why? 
They  have  not  even  the  incentive  that  excuses  the 
gladiator.  They  slay  from  habit,  or  from  servility; 
they  allow  themselves  to  be  slain  for  a  stiver  or  a 
gracious  look.    What  glory  to  be  a  man ! 

In  other  words,  there  is  nothing  tempting,  even 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  i$9 

to  an  amazon,  to  share  ^he  power  of  such  rulers. 
Then  keep  your  politics  for  yourselves  until  one- 
half  of  you  has  butchered  and  buried  the  other  half! 
Perhaps  the  gladiatorial  spirit  of  man  will  then 
change  into  humanity  from  exhaustion,  and  to  us 
women  will  then  accrue  the  task  of  guarding  it 
against  relapses. 

But  there  is  still  another  stage  of  action,  upon 
which  we  are  now  daily  playing  our  part,  and  that 
is  social  life.  Here,  too,  we  find,  as  on  the  throne 
of  legislation,  the  men  as  liars,  and  even  as  the  big- 
gest liars  of  all. 

What  is  honor?  What  is  character?  What  is 
conscience?    What  is  morality? 

Should  any  one  ask  me  these  questions,  I  would 
first  inquire  whether  they  meant  them  for  the  male 
sex  alone,  or  also  for  the  relations  of  the  latter  to 
the  female  sex.  For  just  as  men  deny  women  all 
rights,  to  begin  with,  they  also  are  devoid  of  honor, 
of  character,  of  conscience,  of  morality,  in  their  re- 
lations to  women,  and  when  they  speak  of  it  they 
lie.  In  all  these  things  they  use  quite  different 
weights  and  measures  for  the  women  than  for  them- 
selves, and  whatever  they  condemn  and  abhor 
among  themselves,  they  consider  permissible  and 
honorable  when  it  is  directed  toward  the  weaker 
sex.  (Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that,  throughout  this 
entire  article,  I  am  speaking  of  the  great,  great  ma- 
jority without  condemning  the  small,  the  very  small, 
minority  along  with  them.) 


200  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

Every  day  we  read  in  books,  and  papers,  the  most 
beautiful  effusions  of  masculine  indignation,  if  some 
unworthy  individual  so  degrades  himself  as  to  natter 
some  man  of  money  or  of  power,  or  a  party  or  even 
the  populace,  or  sacrifices  his  principles  to  attain 
this  or  that  egotistic  aim.  But  those  same  moral- 
izers,  who  condemn  such  degradation,  are  capable, 
at  any  moment,  to  deluge  any  woman  who  happens 
to  attract  their  attention  by  rosy  cheeks,  or  spark- 
ling eyes,  or  a  luxuriant  figure,  with  flatteries  and 
assurances,  every  letter  of  which  is  a  hypocrisy,  and 
every  phrase  of  which  contains  a  humiliation.  And 
Why  ?  Often  this  mendacity  is  due  to  a  mere  habit, 
but  for  the  most  part  it  is  meant  to  deceive,  and  to 
further  low  ends.  Men  who,  in  a  circle  of  men, 
overflow  with  honor  and  character,  degrade  them- 
selves to  play  the  contemptible  part  of  the  hypocrit- 
ical flatterer,  before  every  pretty  woman.  For  the 
sake  of  a  glance,  they  become  actors;  for  a  kiss, 
they  become  rhetoricians ;  for  a  favor,  they  become 
valets  de  chambre.  And  as  soon  as  they  have 
gained  their  end,  they  at  once  rise  from  the  position 
of  valet  de  chambre  to  that  of  tyrant.  But  for  all 
that,  they  are  always  "men!"  But  I  say  they  are 
liars.  Either  that  is  a  lie,  which  they  call  honor, 
and  character,  before  men,  or  its  opposite,  which 
they  manifest  before  women,  deserves  the  name.  I 
at  least  cannot  conceive  how  a  man,  who  really 
possesses  honor  and  character,  can  put  it  on  and  off 
as  he  pleases,  like  a  badge,  to  signify  whether  he  is 
associating  with  men  or  women. 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  201 

Nothing  is  more  common,  and  at  the  same  time 
more  disgusting,  than  the  role  of  hero  in  love-com- 
edies, the  only  role  that  the  average  man,  and  espe- 
cially our  military  gentlemen,  can  play  with  some 
talent.  That  this  sort  of  play-acting  has  not  fallen 
into  greater  disrepute  among  men  themselves  only 
shows  how  general  a  species  of  lying  has  become 
among  them,  which  degrades  not  only  man,  not  only 
woman,  but  the  most  beautiful  relationship  by  which 
the  sexes  can  be  united.  What  a  frightful  state  of 
things  in  which  the  first  thought  that  comes  to  a 
woman,  when  she  hears  a  man  talk  of  love,  must  be: 
Is  he  true  or  is  he  a  liar? 

The  same  question  is  forced  upon  me,  whenever 
I  hear  of  or  see  that  kind  of  "chivalry,"  which  the 
French  call  galanterie.  Is  it  a  virtue?  To  me  it 
seems  to  be  either  hypocrisy  or  an  abusurdity.  A 
gallant  man  reminds  me  either  of  a  lieutenant  or  a 
Don  Quixote.  I  can  understand  how,  woman  being 
the  weaker,  and  more  fragile  being,  a  man  should 
wish  to  be  helpful  and  obliging  to  her,  whenever  she 
needs  help;  but  I  do  not  see  why  this  helpfulness 
and  deference  need  be  anything  else,  but  a  manifes- 
tation of  general  culture  and  humanity,  unless,  in- 
deed, some  personal  relationship  exists  between  the 
respective  individuals.  No  more  than  'he  can  be 
called  gallant,  who  helps  or  obliges  a  child,  an  in- 
valid, etc.,  ought  he  to  be  gallant  who  treats  a  weak 
woman  with  humane  considerateness. 

Still  less,  than  honor  and  character,  can  the  con- 


201  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

science,  and  morality  of  men — if  I  am  to  separate 
the  latter  qualities  from  the  former — stand  the  test  of 
truth  before  a  feminine  tribunal.  Every  man  will 
agree  with  you  unconditionally  that  it  is  knavery  to 
rob  another  of  money,  honor,  liberty  and  happiness. 
But  this  morality  is  &t  once  lifted  off  its  feet,  as  soon 
as  the  treachery  is  directed  towards  a  woman,  and 
concerns  a  sexual  relationship.  True,  you  do  have  a 
few  laws,  which,  for  instance,  make  it  a  penal 
offense  to  seduce  or  compromise  a  girl ;  but  few  of 
you  have  principles  that  would  condemn  such  an 
offense.  And  what  is  your  punishment  for  it?  Mar- 
riage! That  the  victim  of  your  depravity  receives 
the  name  of  the  miscreant,  that  the  unfortunate  one 
is  chained  to  the  originator  of  her  misfortune,  by  or- 
der of  the  police — that  is  the  highest  compensation 
your  justice  can  discover. 

Men  are  accustomed  to  play  with  the  happiness  of 
women,  as  boys  do  with  the  life  of  an  insect.  Does 
not  every  day  experience  teach  us  that  their  con- 
science ceases  to  exist  when  their  animal  desires  are 
aroused;  that  they  do  not  in  the  least  hesitate  to 
sacrifice  the  happiness  of  a  woman's  life  to  the  sen- 
sual enjoyment  of  a  minute;  that  no  means  of  cun- 
ning or  even  of  violence  is  too  vile  for  the  attain- 
ment of  ends  which  never,  and  under  no  circum- 
stances whatever,  can  compensate  for  the  one  hun- 
dredth part  of  the  self-degradation,  which  their  at- 
tainment implies?  To  deceive  a  man,  you  consider 
a  disgrace  •  but  is  it  not  a  triumph  for  you  to  deceive 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  203 

a  woman?  To  lighten  a  man's  purse  by  a  breach  of 
trust  is  to  you  a  crime;  but  to  poison  a  heart  by  a 
breach  of  trust  is  to  you  a  pastime.  How  many  are 
there  among  you  who  would  shrink  from  writing  a 
list  of  their  Don  Juan  triumphs,  with  the  bloody 
tears  of  unhappy  women?  Have  you  not  been  ac- 
customed, I  might  almost  say  trained  from  early 
youth,  to  press  women  into  the  service  of  your  low 
aims,  by  every  means  you  like,  regardless  of  con- 
sequences, and  even  to  boast  of  their  misfortune? 
Do  you  not  regard  a  girl,  whom  you  have  started  on 
the  road  to  shame,  or  driven  to  suicide  from  de- 
spair, as  the  hunter  regards  the  game  he  has 
wounded  or  slain?  But  afterward  you  are  all  ready 
to  sing: 

"Honor  to  woman !    To  her  it  is  given 
To  garden  the  earth  with  the  roses  of  heaven  I" 
It  is  like  hearing  a  hunter  sing:    "Honor  to  game, 
for  it  tastes  good,  when  we  have  killed  it." 

What  a  revolution  will  yet  have  to  take  place,  in 
the  conceptions  of  men;  what  a  dhange  education 
will  have  to  work  in  their  lives,  before  they  can 
attain  to  a  knowledge  and  recognition  of  the  most 
rudimentary  principles  of  honor,  and  morality,  as 
concerns  their  relationship  to  weak  woman,  chained 
with  a  thousand  fetters  of  dependency  to  man-made 
conditions !  If  you  do  not  yet  wish,  or  are  not  yet 
able,  to  grant  woman  equal  rights  in  public  life,  you 
can  at  least  accustom  yourself,  in  social  life,  not  to 
degrade  her  by  a  morality,  which,  among  yourselves, 


204  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

would  amount  to  an  actual  declaration  of  war.  So 
long  as  a  dishonorable  and  unscrupulous  act,  di- 
rected against  us,  has  not  the  same  value  to  you  as 
when  it  is  directed  against  yourselves,  you  show  that 
you  do  not  consider  us  as  responsible  human  beings, 
that  you  are  our  tyrants  in  life,  as  you  are  in 
politics,  and  that  all  your  assurances  to  the  con- 
trary are  simply  lies. 

I  have  begun  to  discuss  a  subject  which  is  better 
adapted  for  a  book  than  for  a  newspaper  article.  In 
order  not  to  stray  too  far  I  will  turn  aside  from  my 
course,  and  merely  add  a  few  concluding  remarks 
about  the  position  which  men,  entirely  apart  from 
their  relations  to  us,  now  occupy  in  life  and  in  poli- 
tics. 

Men!  What  is  a  man?  What  exuberance  of 
beauty  and  greatness  is  contained  in  the  meaning  of 
this  word !  It  lies  in  the  nature  of  things,  that  each 
of  the  two  sexes  should  exercise  severe  criticism 
over  itself,  while  they  are  mutually  inclined  to  view 
each  other  with  favorable  eyes,  and  to  discover  each 
other's  good  qualities.  There  surely  is  no  woman 
of  any  intelligence  who  would  not  be  willing  to  find 
in  every  man  an  ideal,  and,  it  seems  to  me,  that  the 
reverse  must  be  just  as  true.  But  how  bitter  the 
disappointment  whenever  this  willingness  casts 
about  for  objects  of  appreciation,  among  the  present 
masculine  world!  Can  it  really  have  been  thus,  in 
all  times?  It  would  be  terrible  to  be  forced  to  admit 
this  and  to  build  our  expectations  of  the  future  upon 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  205 

it.  Threefold  happy  is  the  woman  who,  in  these 
times  of  general  enervation  and  vulgarity,  has 
found  a  man  whom  she  can  truly  respect  and  love! 
Let  no  one  accuse  me  of  not  making  due  allowance 
for  the  exceptions;  I  know  them  and  know  how  to 
appreciate  them  doubly.  But  what,  I  ask,  is  one  to 
think  of  that  ruling  mass  and  its  prominent  person- 
ages, among  whom  genuine  men  are  regarded  as 
proscribed  and  leprous  beings?  Has  it  any  other 
aim  than  money-making,  animal  pleasures,  and  po- 
litical degradation?  What  has  become  of  that  large 
emigration  which  once  filled  our  fatherland  with 
the  battle-cry  against  tyrants?  Are  those  men  who 
forgot  liberty  as  soon  as  it  was  vanquished?  Are 
those  men  who,  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  swore 
eternal  hatred  against  tyranny,  and  in  this  country 
are  so  lost  to  shame  that  they  unite  with  the  owners 
of  human  beings  for  the  purpose  of  undermining 
the  republic?  I  know  the  weaknesses  of  my  sex, 
and  admit  them,  although  it  is  not  itself  responsible 
for  the  most  of  them ;  but  so  much  I  can  maintain  — 
no  woman  whose  heart  has  once  been  stirred  with 
enthusiasm  for  liberty  is  capable  of  forgetting  it  over 
night,  or  of  becoming  reconciled  with  its  opposite, 
for  any  low  considerations.  We  are  true  to  ideas  as 
we  are  to  persons.  But,  you  men  can  forget  and 
betray  everything  for  which  you  once  seemed  to 
glow,  not  singly,  not  by  tens  and  dozens,  not  only 
a  hundred  fold;  thousands  and  thousands  of  you 
turn  your  backs  upon  liberty,  cast  your  ballot  for 


ao6  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

slavery,  and — are  not  ashamed!  Truly,  you  men  are 
not  merely  liars,  you  are  also  slaves !  Are  you  not 
base  by  nature? 

In  London  lives  a  man  who  once  excited  univer- 
sal sympathy,  and  Whose  romantic  fate,  I  must  con- 
fess, also  fascinated  me  for  a  time,  and  created  a 
sort  of  enthusiasm  in  me.  It  is  Gottfried  Kinkel. 
He  swore  that  he  would  wage  endless  war  against 
the  enemies  of  our  fatherland,  and  traveled  through 
this  country  to  supply  himself  with  the  sinews  of 
war.  What  has  become  of  him?  He  has  disap- 
peared and  is  forgotten.  His  hatred  of  tyrants  has 
quickly  calmed  down,  his  enthusiasm  for  war  has 
subsided,  behind  -the  counters  of  a  bank,  where  he 
deposited  the  money,  collected  for  the  revolution, 
"on  interest,"  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  des- 
pots! Was  there  ever  a  man  who  claimed  the  con- 
fidence of  his  country  people  more  obtrusively,  and 
has  ever  any  one  betrayed  it  more  basely  than  this 
Kinkel?  No  man  could  have  acted  thus  who  had 
the  least  conception  of  honor,  and  who  had  the  least 
regard  for  the  respect  of  respectable  people.  And 
yet,  did  not  Mr.  Kinkel  become  the  ideal  man,  for 
this  entire  emigration?  Did  it  not  praise  everything 
that  he  did,  and  approve  everything  that  he  omitted 
to  do?  Is  it  not  always  approving?  Does  it  not 
always  take  part  in  his  infamy?  Where,  then,  I  ask, 
are  the  men  ? 

And  is  it  not  a  terrible  thought  that  this  emigra- 
tion represents  the  flower  of  the  German  people? 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  207 

If  the  flower  is  like  that,  what  is  to  become  of  the 
tree? 

There  have  been  times  when,  as  one  author  ex- 
presses it,  the  men  had  to  feel  ashamed  of  themselves 
before  the  women.  Even  such  times  seem  to  be  past 
for  us.  Men  who  are  no  longer  ashamed  of  each 
other  will  feel  no  shame  before  women.  Then  let  us 
feel  ashamed  for  them.  To  feel  ashamed  for  you, 
whom  we  ought  to  love,  that  is  the  severest  punish- 
ment that  we  can  conceive  of  for  you;  but  it  is  no 
less  severe  for  us. 

It  makes  me  sad,  unto  apathy,  when  I  see  how 
vainly,  how  hopelessly  every  nobler  aspiration 
strives,  to  merely  keep  alive  the  humane  qualities, 
— to  say  nothing  at  all  of  progressive  development, — 
which  our  German  emigration  has  brought  over 
with  it.  If  these  qualities  had  been  lost  over  there, 
we  could  at  least  console  ourselves  with  the  thought 
that  they  had  been  crowded  out  by  the  tyranny  of 
power;  but  here  one  is  tempted  to  lay  the  blame 
upon  human,  or  German  nature,  when  one  sees  how 
all  this  liberty,  and  all  the  means  for  a  higher  de- 
velopment, are  only  used  to  trample  upon  liberty 
and  development,  and  to  help  vulgarity  and  base- 
ness to  triumph.  You  have  never  written  anything 
that  expressed  my  own  sentiments  so  completely 
as  the  article  on  "The  Art  of  Despairing."  You 
have  given  words  to  what  I  have  so  often  thought, 
but  never  ventured  to  say.  If  it  were  not  for  the 
necessity  of  expressing  yourself  freely,  and  the  con- 


208  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

sciousness  of  sympathy  with  the  few  who  agree  with 
you,  that  induces  you  to  continue  your  activity 
among  this  rabble,  I  could  not  understand  your  per- 
severance, and  would  call  it  "casting  pearls  before 
swine."  Sounds  which  could  cause  the  innermost 
fibres  of  sensitive  hearts  to  vibrate,  here  die  away 
unheard,  like  the  cry  of  a  bird  in  the  primeval  forest; 
the  clearest  and  most  impressive  truths  only  serve 
to  win  adherants  for  the  advocates  of  their  opposites. 
I  see  every  noble  zeal  rebound  in  vain  from  this  in- 
sensibility and  dullness,  to  say  nothing  of  the  scorn 
and  persecution,  with  which  the  vulgarity  and  re- 
sentment of  the  rabble  are  wont  to  reward  it.  It 
has  been  an  entirely  unexpected  phenomenon  to  me 
that  in  liberty  the  higher  natures  work  in  vain,  and 
only  the  meaner  natures  are  successful,  and  I  can- 
not account  for  it  yet.  To  see  how  intellect  and 
sentiment  is  entirely  thrown  away  upon  this  popu- 
lation, which,  nevertheless,  contains  some  cultured 
elements,  is  to  me  so  hopeless  that  I  almost  despair, 
not  merely  of  the  majorities,  but  even  of  the  minori- 
ties. It  makes  me  think  of  the  Catholic  processions, 
which  I  used  to  see  in  Germany,  and  at  which  the 
only  use  that  flowers  could  be  put  to  was  to  strew 
them  on  the  way,  to  be  trampled  upon  by  the  vulgar 
feet  of  a  stupid  crowd.  I  cannot  at  all  imagine  how 
the  people  here  can  make  their  lives  endurable  if 
they  reject  everything  that  can  make  them  beauti- 
ful. I  ask  myself  what  has  become  of  their  intellect, 
what  has  become  of  their  heart,  can  they  no  longer 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  209 

think  and  feel?  For  if  they  still  thought  and  felt, 
they  would  also  feel  the  necessity  of  embodying 
their  thoughts  and  feelings  in,  and  of  manifesting 
them  through,  corresponding  aspirations.  I  cannot 
help  thinking  how  much  these  thousands  could  ac- 
complish if  they  wanted  to;  and  that  they  do  not 
want  to,  although  everything,  just  everything  has 
been  done  to  urge  them  on,  is  not  that  a  proof  of 
their  complete  demoralization  and  baseness? 

Perhaps  the  colors  of  my  picture  are  too  somber, 
perhaps  other  eyes  will  see  it  from  a  more  cheerful 
point  of  view,  which  I  do  not  know.  But  that,  on 
the  whole,  I  do  not  see  things  too  darkly,  you,  at 
least,  cannot  deny.* 


♦However,  our  friend  forgets  to  make  any  allow- 
ance for  the  effect  which  the  social  and  political  conditions 
had  upon  the  emigrants,  and  especially  forgets  to  consider 
that  a  great  many  of  the  highest  minded,  and  most  cul- 
tured of  them  were,  moreover,  obliged  to  struggle  with 
miserable  circumstances,  which  made  it  hard  for  them,  or 
discouraged  them,  from  taking  part  in  affairs  of  general 
interest.  But  she  is  perfectly  right  in  condemning  the 
great  mass  of  the  older  emigration,  whose  pecuniary  con- 
ditions are  much  better,  but  who  have  actually  sworn  off, 
and  hate  every  participation  in  intellectual  life  and  liberal 
aspirations,  while  every  low  and  illiberal  tendency  seems 
to  meet  with  their  approval;  moreover,  that  part  of  the 
younger  generation,  which  is  likewise  quite  numerous, 
who  are  not  suffering  from  pecuniary  disabilities,  but  who, 
guided  by  a  shallow  conceit,  observe  a  negative  or  passive 
attitude  toward  everything  that  does  not  especially  curry 
their  favor.  The  upshot  of  it  all  is,  of  course,  that  the 
entire  German  emigration  does  not  weigh  anything  what- 


210  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

I  should  only  like  to  know  whether  there  are 
people  here  who  are  really  happy.  Is  not  the  spirit 
that  is  sensitive  to  happiness  at  the  same  time  so 
sensitive  to  unhappiness  that  its  environment  here 
turns  everything  into  bitterness?  Who,  indeed,  can 
be  happy  in  walking  over  this  battlefield  of  insensi- 
bility where  hearts  are  broken  like  glass,  and  human 
happiness  trampled  upon  like  vermin!  How  many 
a  soul  perishes  in  this  country,  friendless  and  un- 
known, how  many  a  one  carries  its  woe  in  silence 
to  the  grave,  because  it  has  once  for  all  resigned  it- 
self not  to  find  here  any  sympathy  or  appreciation! 
Every  ship  that  plows  the  waters,  every  railway 
carriage,  every  log  cabin  in  the  forest,  every  garret 
in  the  cities,  but  especially  every  hospital,  every  in- 
sane asylum,  and  every  graveyard,  harbors  a  world 
of  pain,  without  sympathy,  and  it  seems  to  me  as  if 
the  only  means  by  which  humanity  here  could  bear 
the  consciousness  of  individual  and  general  misfor- 
tune is  by  becoming  callous  to  it.  You  might  as 
well  write  an  article  on  the  art  of  becoming  callous 
as  on  the  art  of  despairing. 

I  cannot  learn  this  art ;  on  the  contrary,  my  sensi- 
bility increases  in  the  same  degree  as  I  see  the  in- 

ever  in  the  scale  of  progress,  and  everybody  looks  down 
upon  them  with  contempt. 

We  do  not  at  all  blame  a  thoughtful  and  feeling  woman 
that  she  cannot  endure  this  climate  in  an  isolated  position; 
to  us  it  is  endurable  only  on  account  of  the  freedom  of 
speech,  which  at  least  can  scatter  the  seed  for  the  future- 
Editor  "Pionier," 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  211 

sensibility  of  theirs  increase.  To  tear  oneself  en- 
tirely from  every  relationship  with  the  rest  of  the 
world,  to  ignore  it  entirely,  to  seclude  oneself  com- 
pletely, is  in  no  way  possible.  The  relationship  will 
at  once  be  re-established,  through  the  atmosphere, 
if  it  has  been  broken  off  in  some  other  way. 

This  atmosphere  seems  to  be  strangely  oppres- 
sive to  me.  The  consciousness  of  being  surrounded 
by  a  world  so  unintellectual  and  soulless,  so  com- 
pletely insensible  and  unimpressionable  to  truly  hu- 
mane aspirations,  presses  upon  me  and  disquiets 
me,  as  if  I  were  a  prisoner  in  the  midst  of  liberty.  I 
shall  try  to  liberate  myself  by  returning  into  bond- 
When  I  shall  come  to  New  York,  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  leave,  I  shall  hand  all  my  papers  over  to 
you.  I  have  not  yet  arranged  them  all,  and  still  find 
much  that  must  be  consigned  to  the  flames,  because 
it  is  too  insignificant,  or  immature.  You  can  then 
do  with  the  package  whatever  you  please.  I  give 
you  completely  free  play.  At  any  rate  you  will  not 
have  to  complain  of  a  lack  of  frankness,  truthfulness 
and  recklessness.  I  make  only  one  condition,  to 
begin  with :  you  are  not  to  make  my  name  known 
before  —  well,  before  you  hear  of  my  death.  I  do 
not  mean  to  say  that  I  hope  to  die  soon,  but  that  is 
not  within  our  power.  Should  you,  however,  suc- 
ceed in  organizing  your  colony  of  the  despairing,  I 
promise  to  become  a  member,  and  shall  induce 
those  to  whom  I  shall  have  to  devote  myself  over 
there  to  come,  too.    ********** 


212  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

I  am  looking  forward  with  much  joy  to  once  more 
experiencing  a  European  spring.  What  is  called 
spring  here,  is  like  a  leap  of  Nature  from  the  cold 
shivers  into  fever  heat.  In  these  transitions  Nature 
is  unnatural ;  and  it  is  neither  conducive  to  health, 
nor  is  it  aesthetic.  American  nature,  like  American 
humanity,  is  much  more  inhuman  than  the  Euro- 
pean, even  where  culture  has  come  to  its  aid ;  and  we, 
with  our  European  depth  of  feeling,  remain  or- 
phaned, because  we  nowhere  meet  with  any  re- 
sponse. In  order  to  infuse  our  own  life  into  a  local 
landscape,  we  must  either  first  transform  it,  or  be- 
come bound  to  it  by  the  most  painful  recollections. 
But  even  then  one  must  not  live  near  too  many 
people.  In  Germany,  or  Switzerland,  I  felt  at  home 
in  every  pretty  spot,  even  when  I  had  been  there  but 
a  few  days.  Here,  even  the  flowers,  that  I  myself 
have  planted,  remain  strangers  to  me.  Last  year  I 
had  a  couple  of  crickets  about  my  fireplace.  They 
were  the  only  thing  that  could  really  create  an  illu- 
sion for  me ;  but  I  do  not  understand  how  thev  came 
here. 

This  American  world  is  made  for  homesickness. 
But  what  a  condition  to  be  in,  always  to  be  home- 
sick and  never  to  have  a  home ! 

I  believe  that  all  those  whom  you  count  among 
the  despairing  are  the  homesick,  homeless  wander- 
ers. There  is  a  sort  of  intellectual  or  ideal  gypsy- 
dom,  and  we  all  belong  to  it.  But  we  are  worse  off 
than  the  gypsies,  for  they  at  least  hold  together,  and 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  213 

because  they  are  not  granted  a  portion  of  this  world, 
they  idemnity  themselves  by  stealing  it.  There  are 
no  more  helpless  people  than  honest  gypsies.  And 
how  can  intellectual  gypsies  be  otherwise  than 
honest,  even  if  they  wanted  to?  For  our  opponents 
have  nothing  that  we  could  steal  from  them.  Their 
vulgarity,  their  intellectual  barrenness,  their  empti- 
ness of  heart,  their  want  of  ideas,  are  nothing  that 
they  need  to  guard  from  our  pilfering  passion,  by 
the  aid  of  the  police.  But,  alas,  they  rule  the  world. 
I  know  of  no  phrase  more  meaningless  than  the 
consolation  that  "the  whole  world  is  our  country." 
A  nice  country  in  which  every  square  foot  of  ground 
that  is  no  longer  wilderness  is  occupied  and  de- 
formed by  our  opponents!  Therefore  our  com- 
panions in  misery,  or  the  wild  animals,  can  be  our 
only  society. 

Our  country  can  be  conquered  only  by  the  revo- 
lution. But  I  do  not  wish  to  say  more  on  this  sub- 
ject, for  I,  too,  am  a  German. 


a  14  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 


WOMEN. 
(From  "Der  Pionier"  of  Feb.  3,  1856.) 

Since  I  have,  some  time  ago,  spoken  my  mind 
freely  concerning  the  male  sex,  I  seem  to  have 
taken  upon  myself  the  obligation  to  criticise  the 
faults  of  my  own  sex  with  the  same  frankness.  It  is 
not  from  a  lack  of  good  intention  that  I  have  failed 
to  do  so  sooner. 

Mr.  Ruge's  last  attack  has  given  me  a  new  im- 
petus, and,  I  must  confess,  the  necessary  energy  to 
speak.  But  he  is  to  blame  if,  instead  of  the  prose- 
cutor of  my  sex,  I  again  appear  as  its  defendant. 

I  was  surprised,  indeed,  to  see  how  a  thinking 
man  like  Mr.  Ruge  can  judge  so  superficially  and 
vulgarly  of  woman.  And  I  cannot  understand  how 
he  can  praise  Goethe  and  even  call  him  the  "freest 
German."  In  what  did  Goethe's  freedom  consist? 
As  regards  religion,  it  is  not  even  established  that 
he  was  an  "atheist,"  and  as  regards  politics,  his  po- 
sition as  minister  to  a  prince  testifies  against  him. 
What  then  remains?  First  of  all  his  individual  inde- 
pendence from  the  prejudices  of  the  age,  and  his 
aesthetic  sense  of  freedom,  which  asserted  itself  in 
the  realm  of  the  ideal.  But  who  constituted  his  so- 
ciety in  this  realm?  The  women!  His  men,  in- 
cluding Faust,  command  little  respect  and  admira- 
tion.   Tell  me,  Mr.  Ruge,  what  would  Goethe  be 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  215 

without  the  women?  Without  those  despised  and 
unphilosophical  creatures,  whom  you  will  not  ac- 
knowledge as  human  beings  until  twenty-five  years 
after  the  proclamation  of  the  republic,  the  "freest 
German,"  the  greatest  German  poet,  would  hardly 
have  had  any  intellectual  existence,  and  would  prob- 
ably have  been  forgotten  long  ago.  Listen  to  what 
he  says  of  us :  "Women  are  the  only  receptacle  which 
remains  to  us  moderns,  to  fill  with  an  ideal  content. 
With  the  men  nothing  can  be  done.  Homer  has 
anticipated  everything  in  Achilles  and  Odysseus, 
the  bravest  and  the  wisest."  In  another  place  he 
says:  "That  he  perceived  the  ideal  in  a  feminine 
form,  or  the  form  of  a  woman."  "What  a  man  was 
he  did  not  know  at  all ;  for  it  was  impossible  for  him 
to  describe  a  man  otherwise  than  biographically. 
There  must  always  be  something  historical  to  build 
on." 

What  testimony !  It  is  hardly  possible  that  Goethe 
to-day  would  be  opposed  to  the  emancipation  of 
woman,  for  he  would  no  more  wish  to  exclude 
"ideality"  from  his  state  than  from  his  writings. 
Mr.  Ruge  reproaches  naturalists  with  destroying 
"ideality;"  Goethe,  the  "freest  German,"  declares 
that  women  are  the  only  receptacle  of  ideality,  in  the 
society  of  to-day,  and  yet  the  eulogizer  of  Goethe, 
and  of  ideality,  would  confine  women  to  the  kitchen 
and  the  nursery  that  they  may  do  no  harm  in  a  so- 
ciety in  which  "great  men  like  Hecker,  Kinkel," 
etc.,  are  the  most  illustrious  successors  to  "Achilles 
and  Odysseus !"    Poor  men ! 


216  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

Mr.  Ruge  would  not  lapse  into  such  inconsist- 
encies if  instead  of  his  dry,  scholastic,  Hegelian 
standard  of  judging  woman,  he  were  aided  by  that 
living,  spiritual  relationship,  through  which  Goethe 
first  became  Goethe,  and  through  which  he  attained 
that  wonderful  appreciation  of  the  feminine  nature. 
I  would  call  this  capacity  —  which  is  generally  quite 
complimentary  to  us,  termed  the  "feminine  ele- 
ment," although  a  perfect  man  cannot  be  conceived 
of  without  it,  any  more  than  a  perfect  woman  —  the 
aesthetic  soul.  Whoever  does  not  possess  this  aes- 
thetic soul,  upon  which  the  direct  appreciation  of  all 
higher  natures  depends,  or  whoever  has  killed  it 
within  himself,  by  the  gymnastics  of  abstract 
thought,  he  will  in  vain  attempt  to  fill  this  idealism, 
about  which  Mr.  Ruge  is  so  anxious,  with  living 
contents.  And  if  Mr.  Ruge  limits  it  to  the  mascu- 
line world,  it  becomes  more  than  ever  a  forced  ab- 
straction, or  an  empty  illusion.  Strike  us  women 
from  your  account,  and  then  try  to  construct  your 
idealism!  Even  without  Goethe,  I  should  know, 
and  have  the  courage  to  say,  that  the  masculine 
world  of  to-day  is,  with  few  exceptions,  nothing  but 
a  world  of  philistines ;  and  even  if  I  did  not  say  it  — 
very  well,  Mr.  Ruge  himself  has  indirectly  told  me 
so.    I  quote  his  words : 

"Women  are  essentially  attracted  by  position,* 

*If  this  were  the  case,  those  men  should  complain  of  it 
least  of  all  who  deny  women  the  means  of  attaining  to  a 
position  themselves. 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  217 

rank,  superiority.  When  they  fall  in  love  they  look 
much  more  to  superiority  in  the  position  of  the  man 
than  men  look  to  the  rank  of  her  parents.  If  it  is 
not  an  office  or  a  title,  it  surely  is  a  superiority  of  en- 
dowment or  fame  —  in  short,  some  kind  of  aristo- 
cratic quality,  that  determines  the  love  of  the  girl. 
Love  is  aristocratic;  it  is  superiority  that  is  loved. 
Beauty  is  an  aristocracy ;  few  people  in  their  appear* 
ance  correspond  to  the  conception  of  beauty,"  etc. 

What  a  confession  against  men  and  for  women 
these  lines  contain! 

In  other  words,  this  confession  in  favor  of  the 
women  reads  thus :  Gifted  with  quick  emotions  and 
a  lively  imagination,  you  cannot  content  yourselves 
with  the  merely  apathetic  consciousness  of  the  ex- 
istence of  these  or  the  other  things  or  persons  —  no, 
by  means  of  your  more  direct  and  more  vital  sus- 
ceptibility to  your  environment,  you  quickly  place 
yourself  into  a  personal  relationship  to  it,  whether 
this  relationship  be  one  of  sympathy  or  of  antipathy. 
Your  nature  is  especially  attuned  for  sympathy, 
wherefore  your  proper  element  is  love.  But  for  all 
this,  you  generally  have  the  good  taste  not  to  love 
what  is  most  inferior.  If  you  have  your  choice,  you 
will  love  the  general  and  not  the  corporal,  the  inde- 
pendently rich  man,  and  not  the  dependent  beggar, 
the  handsome  and  not  the  ugly  suitor,  the  noble 
and  not  the  low,  the  cultured  and  not  the  vulgar, 
the  famous  and  not  the  obscure,  the  poet  and  not  the 
shop-keeper;  yes,  even  the  genius  and  not  the  philis- 


218  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

tine !  In  short,  you  women  always  love  "superiori- 
ties" and  not  defects,  i.  e.,  what  is  lovable  and  not 
what  is  unlovely!  In  a  garden  you  would  even  pick 
the  roses  and  not  the  nettles! 

Such  are  the  reproaches  which  Mr.  Ruge  heaps 
upon  us  women,  in  contrast  to  the  men!  But  the 
praise  which  he  thereby,  indirectly,  gives  to  men 
must,  logically,  consist  of  the  opposite  of  these  re- 
proaches. I  shall,  however,  limit  it  to  the  confes- 
sion, which  is  contained  in  Mr.  Ruge's  demand,  that 
we  women  ought  also  to  make  ourselves  worthy  of 
such  praise,  that  is,  that  we,  too,  should  love  the 
opposite  of  "superiorities,"  that  we  ought  not  to  be 
"aristocratic"  in  our  love!  We  ought,  then,  to  love 
the  ugly  men,  and  not  the  handsome,  the  insignifi- 
cant and  not  the  excellent,  the  philistines  and  not 
the  men  of  genius ! 

No,  Mr.  Ruge,  forever  no !  By  all  that  is  beauti- 
ful and  noble  upon  earth,  by  all  the  happiness  and 
all  the  suffering  of  the  feminine  soul,  by  all  the  ideals 
and  desires  of  the  heart,  by  all  that  is  sweet  and  all 
that  is  painful,  which  finds  lodgment  in  the  human 
breast,  by  the  joy  of  spring  and  the  sadness  of  au- 
tumn, by  the  odor  of  flowers  and  the  murmuring  of 
the  cypress,  by  all  the  bliss  of  life  and  all  the  bitter- 
ness of  death,  we  do  not  want  to  love  ugliness,  in- 
sufficiency, vulgarity,  philistinism,  but,  with  all  the 
fervor,  all  the  devotion  of  our  being,  we  want  to  love 
beauty,  nobility  of  soul,  truth,  proud  manhood- and, 
above  all,  genius!    Not  that  false  brilliancy  which 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  219 

seeks  greatness  in  senseless  arbitrariness,  in  disso- 
lute transgressions  of  rational  rules,  and  is  therefore 
incompatible  with  truth,  the  foremost  requirement 
of  genius;  not  that  sham  wisdom,  whose  essence  is 
weakness  instead  of  strength,  but  that  true  genius 
which,  regardless  of  the  motives  of  a  mean  world, 
of  the  calculators  and  hucksters,  of  the  authorities 
and  scribes,  breaks  the  fetters  with  which  narrow- 
mindedness  and  the  anxiety  of  philistine  pygmies 
have  bound  human  nature,  and  creates  for  us  a 
paradise  of  freedom,  in  which  the  great  and  noble 
thoughts  of  human  happiness  and  human  beauty 
take  on  life  and  form. 

We  could  even  love  a  dead  genius,  but  not  a  living 
philistine. 

In  this  wise,  Mr.  Ruge,  are  we  women  aristocrats, 
and  the  only  misfortune  is  that  not  all  of  us  are. 
Perhaps  the  men  would  then  try  harder  to  become 
aristocrats  also,  and  would  drop  the  conceit  that 
we  must  love  them,  on  every  plebeian  condition, 
just  because  they  are  the  stronger  and  we  their  de- 
pendents, and  because  they  usually  pay  for  the 
hearth,  upon  which  we  have  the  honor  of  cooking 
for  them. 

We  women  are  not  adapted  to  become  philoso- 
phers. Imagination  and  feeling  —  in  short,  all  the 
more  living  activities  of  the  soul — fortunately  do  not 
admit  of  that  strong  calm  which  is  capable  of  evolv- 
ing systems  of  thought  in  the  privacy  of  the  study, 
that  astonish  the  world  just  so  long  as  it  does  not 


220  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

comprehend  them.  Instead  of  this,  every  truth, 
at  which  philosophers  arrive  only  by  the  round- 
about and  troublesome  way  of  constructing  a  "sys- 
tem," is  directly,  and  without  difficulty,  accessible 
to  our  intelligence.  But  our  stupid  and  unnatural 
education  generally  makes  us  as  diffident  as  it  makes 
us  intellectually  dependent,  so  that  we  mistrust  our 
own  judgment  before  that  of  learned  men.  That  is 
a  weakness  which  men  know  very  well  how  to  utilize 
in  behalf  of  our  continued  dispossession  and  sup- 
pression; it  is  quite  natural,  therefore,  that  they  re- 
bel when  we  discard  this  weakness,  when  we  no 
longer  allow  ourselves  to  be  imposed  upon  by  their 
pretended  mysteries,  and  that  the  philosophers  must 
be  the  first  to  rebel  is  the  most  natural  of  all.  We 
must,  however,  not  allow  ourselves  to  be  led  astray 
thereby;  we  must  even  dare  to  compete  with  the 
philosophers.  I  venture,  therefore,  to  turn  Mr. 
Ruge's  reproach  that  we  are  aristocratic  into  the 
greatest  praise;  I  venture  to  assert  —  without  be- 
lieving, however,  that  I  have  discovered  a  new 
truth  —  that,  by  our  natural  "aristocratic"  tendency, 
we  unconsciously  establish  the  correct  human  rule, 
which  men  have  brought  into  discredit  by  their  per- 
verse theories,  and  which  demands  that  all  men 
should  become  aristocratic.  By  what  sort  of  philos- 
ophy does  Mr.  Ruge  want  to  prove  to  me  that,  in- 
stead of  elevating  humanity  to  the  height  of  the 
superiorities,  which  we  women  love,  all  must  rather 
be  degraded  to  the  opposite,  for  the  sake  of  being 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  221 

"democratic?"  I  vote  for  a  democracy  of  superiori- 
ty, in  which  the  majority  of  mankind,  especially  the 
men,  are  as  noble,  as  beautiful,  as  cultured,  as  inde- 
pendent, as  gifted,  as  lovable,  as  happy  as  possible. 
Surely  the  minority  will  never  have  to  complain  of 
such  a  democracy. 

I  vote!  But  Mr.  Ruge  does  not  want  to  let  me 
vote,  me  and  some  five  hundred  million  other  female 
beings.  He  even  demands  that  we  should  first  vote 
on  the  question  whether  we  want  to  vote,  and  does 
not  ask  himself  whether  it  might  be  adduced,  as  an 
argument  against  the  enfranchisement  of  the  slaves, 
that  they  had  not  voted  on  their  human  rights.  He 
at  least  distinguishes  us  from  the  slaves  in  that  he 
fixes  a  term  for  our  liberation.  "In  the  twenty-fifth 
year  of  the  republic"  we  may  begin  to  look  upon 
ourselves  as  human  beings,  for  by  that  time  we  shall 
have  been  educated  into  human  beings  by  those  of 
whom  we  have  not  yet  sufficient  evidence  that  they 
themselves  are  already  human  beings! 

I  do  not  discuss  my  human  right,  I  assert  it.  It 
exists  and  does  not  cease  to  exist.  Therefore  I  will 
not  allow  any  one  to  fix  a  term  when  it  is  to  begin; 
according  to  my  interpretation,  this  term  would  only 
fix  the  time  when  the  robbers  of  my  rights  would 
cease  to  be  robbers.  In  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  the 
republic  we  shall  emancipate  the  women  merely 
means,  in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  the  republic  we 
shall  cease  to  be  despots  toward  the  women.  If  I 
had  to  consider  only  the  male  sex  I  would  be  modest 


222  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

enough  to  accept  this  term  as  tolerably  short  for 
the  humanization  of  men. 

That  women,  before  they  had  attained  to  an  intel- 
lectual regeneration,  through  twenty-five  years  of 
training  in  the  republic,  would  use  their  right  of 
suffrage  against  the  republic,  is  an  assertion,  but  no 
prQof ;  it  is  a  pretext,  but  no  reason.  But  if  we  should 
really  vote  for  the  priests,  as  Mr.  Ruge  maintains, 
because  we  were  educated  by  the  priests,  whose  fault 
would  it  be?  Only  the  fault  of  those  who  have 
brought  the  priests  into  the  world,  who  tolerate  the 
priests,  and  who  intrust  the  priests  with  our  educa- 
tion that  they  may  make  submissive  sufferers  of  us. 
But  have  men,  who  allow  priests  to  rule,  a  right  to 
set  themselves  up  as  guardians  of  the  female  sex,  on 
account  of  the  priests?  Can  these  still  priest-ridden 
men  have  anything  to  fear  from  the  female  sex? 
What  harm  can  still  come-to  them?  First  abolish 
the  priests,  since  you  have  made  them,  then  you  are 
safe  from  the  danger  of  having  us  vote  for  them.  It 
is  but  a  proof  of  your  tyrannical  disposition,  and  at 
the  same  time  of  your  weakness,  that  you  want  to 
suppress  our  rights,  on  account  of  conditions  for 
which  you,  as  the  lords  of  history,  are  alone  respons- 
ible. 

"I  have  indeed  admitted  that  we  must  concede  all 
the  rights  of  men  and  citizens  to  these  diplomats 
and  aristocrats,  these  fair  and  interesting  creatures," 
etc.  (namely  to  women). 

Thus  Mr.  Ruge  admits  the  correctness  of  the  prin- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  223 

eiple  (apparently  to  his  great  sorrow),  but  he  flies 
from  its  realization.  And  how  illogical  the  conclu- 
sions with  which  he  tries  to  cover  his  retreat!  That 
the  suffrage,  exercised  by  women,  will  lead  to  dis- 
aster has,  as  I  have  observed  once  before,  not  yet 
been  put  to  the  test.  On  the  contrary,  women  al- 
ways, and  in  sufficient  numbers,  considering  their 
education,  have  taken  the  part  of  liberty  in  every 
struggle,  although  it  held  out  no  promise  to  them. 
But  men  have  undergone  the  test  of  suffrage,  and 
have  come  out  of  it  as  discreditably  as  possible. 
They  have,  as  Mr.  Ruge  tells  us  (by  their  vote  in 
France)  set  us  back  fifty  years.  To  what  conclusion 
ought  this  to  lead  him?  That  the  first  thing  neces- 
sary would  be  to  fix  a  term  for  the  education  of 
men,  in  order  to  instruct  them  in  voting.  His  con- 
clusion, however,  is  "now  we  cannot  abolish  univer- 
sal suffrage  any  more."  Why?  Why,  because  we 
are  men  and  not  women.  Man  must  demand  also 
the  application  of  the  correct  principle,  but  women 
must  bury  the  principle  to  avoid  the  application. 
For  men  Mr.  Ruge  wants  to  apply  the  old  rule: 
whoever  would  learn  to  swim  must  not  be  afraid  of 
the  water.  But  his  chivalry  wishes  to  spare  us 
women  this  discomfort.  We  learn  to  swim  in  the 
kitchen,  or  by  merely  looking  on.  That  is  indeed 
quite  complimentary  to  our  intelligence,  but  not  ex- 
actly "practical." 

That  universal  suffrage  has  set  us  back  fifty  years, 
seems  to  me  to  be  entirely  the  fault  of  those  who  be- 


224  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

gan  the  revolution  with  universal  suffrage  without 
first  providing  for  the  removal  of  the  reactionary 
candidates,  and  the  enlightenment  of  the  ignorant 
voters.  Nevertheless,  after  the  harm  has  once  been 
done,  it  will  certainly  all  come  out  right  in  the  end. 
It  is  no  misfortune  for  a  child  to  stumble,  if  thereby 
it  learns  to  walk ;  neither  is  walking  ever  forbidden 
to  a  child  for  that  reason. 

But  we  women  must  not  learn  to  walk  until  we  are 
grown  up,  and  I  can  not,  for  the  life  of  me,  see  the 
advantage  of  this  tender  regard.  To  postpone  the 
beginning,  when  it  is  a  matter  of  necessity,  can 
never  lead  to  reasonable  results.  No  man  can  main- 
tain that  the  emancipation  of  woman,  the  placing 
her  on  a  footing  of  complete  legal  equality  with 
man,  can  be  evaded  in  practice,  since  it  is  impregna- 
ble in  principle.  Why,  then,  this  procrastination? 
The  moral  of  the  Sibylline  books  would  hold  good 
here,  too.  Men  have  not  learned  how  to  exercise 
their  rights  in  a  day ;  women  will  learn  it  no  sooner 
than  they  did.  But  they  must  make  a  beginning 
sometime,  and  it  is  a  sad  thing  to  see  how  this  be- 
ginning, which  has  so  many  obstacles  to  overcome, 
anyway,  is  attacked,  a  priori,  with  the  most  trivial 
weapons  of  scorn  and  animosity,  by  those  who  have 
nothing  to  say  against  the  principle.  In  order  to 
postpone  the  term  for  the  emancipation  of  woman 
so  long  as  possible,  this  coarse  and  aggressive  state 
of  society  certainly  does  not  need  the  aid  of  men, 
who  have  devoted  their  lives  to  the  conquest  of  bru- 
tality and  aggression! 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  225 

Strange  human  beings!  Here  I  stand  in  the  pres- 
ence of  sun,  moon  and  stars,  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  universe,  as  a  free  being ;  no  star,  no  "god," 
obstructs  my  way;  the  whole  universe  silently  ac- 
knowledges my  freedom.  Only  these  beings,  which 
call  themselves  men,  and  even  free  men,  have  the 
audacity  to  deny  my  freedom,  and  even  to  fix  a  term 
for  my  humanization  in  case  I  reform.  Poor  things! 
You  only  convince  me  that  I  know  better  what  is 
right  and  what  is  wrong,  what  I  can  do  and  what  I 
may  do,  than  you.  Me  you  certainly  need  not  lib- 
erate ;  I  have  for  myself  all  the  liberty  that  I  need 
and  desire.  But  I  know  that  you  yourselves  have  it 
not,  and  that  you  will  never  have  it  without  free 
women.  Just  as  the  woman  without  a  man,  and  the 
man  without  the  woman  fulfills  only  one-half  of  his 
and  her  existence,  just  as  the  contentment  and  the 
harmony  of  human  existence,  can  only  come  from  a 
union  of  the  two  beings,  so  also,  in  public  life,  this 
union  is  the  indispensable  condition  of  a  truly  hu- 
mane and  harmonious  order  of  things.  Is  public  life 
anything  else  than  the  sum  of  all  individual  lives? 
Must  not  every  individual  life  be  interested  in  the 
public  life,  and  must  not  every  individual  union  be 
involved  in  the  union  of  the  whole?  To  postpone 
such  a  state  of  society  would  only  be  to  prolong  the 
inhumanity  and  disharmony  of  our  present  social 
life.  Family  and  state  must  correspond  to  each 
other,  and  those  who  constitute  the  family  must  also 
constitute  the  state,  otherwise  both  can  come  to 


2a6  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

nothing  more  than  they  have  come  to  hitherto.  You 
may  call  yourselves  philosophers  or  revolutionists, 
scholars  or  statesmen,  and  you  may  as  such  even 
allow  your  conceit  to  surpass  your  blindness  by  con- 
tinuing to  despise  woman,  because  she  has  not  the 
power  to  dictate  her  consciousness  to  you  as  your 
law — you  will  thereby  not  annul  the  law  of  nature, 
which  equipped  us,  as  human  beings,  with  human 
rights,  as  well  as  with  human  powers.  You  may 
exhaust  your  wisdom  and  your  strength,  you  may 
use  up  your  ink  with  writing,  or  shed  your  blood, 
you  may  undertake  reforms  or  revolutions — all  your 
achievements  must  remain  fragmentary,  all  your 
creations  must  be  imperfect,  so  long  as  you  would 
make  laws  and  institutions  for  all  mankind,  but  ego- 
tistically exclude  one-half  of  mankind,  and  truly  not 
the  worst  half! 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  227 


THE  CONVENTION  OF  GERMAN  WOMEN 
IN  FRAUENSTADT. 

(Editorial  Correspondence.) 

Why  so  careworn,  my  friend,  and  why  do  you 
look  out  of  the  car  window  with  downcast  eyes? 
You  are  thinking  of  the  past. 

"You  have  guessed  right.  I  am  a  great  friend  of 
traveling  by  rail,  for  it  allows  one's  person  to  catch 
up  with  one's  thoughts  as  quickly  as  possible,  but 
here  in  America  my  thoughts  generally  go  back- 
ward, while  the  locomotive  drags  my  person  for- 
ward. If  I  undertake  even  the  smallest  journey 
here  I  am  in  memory  continually  traveling  in  Eu- 
rope, and  I  then  feel  more  than  ever  what  we  are 
missing  here.  A  country  in  which  travel  affords  no 
pleasure,  life,  too,  can  have  no  true  pleasures  to 
offer.  When  I  am  traveling  I  feel  more  than  ever 
that  I  am  an  exile,  and  it  is  more  than  ever  made 
clear  to  me  that  life  here  is  a  torture  when  I  am 
intent  on  recreation." 

In  some  respects  I  must  agree  with  you  in  your 
condemnation  of  American  life,  but  you  are  wrong, 
and  it  is  your  own  loss  if  you  find  nothing  to  com- 
pensate you  for  its  deprivations.  To  me  liberty 
alone  is  a  sufficient  compensation  for  everything 
that  Europe  could  offer  me. 


228  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

"That  may  do  for  a  man ;  I  find  no  compensation 
except  in  memory." 

I  must  put  that  down  as  a  weakness.  Whoever 
has  sufficient  resources  within  himself  is  able  to 
make  himself  independent  of  his  surroundings.  And 
so  long  as  one  can  still  find  like-minded  people  one 
can  be  recompensed  in  a  quiet  way  for  everything 
that  one  misses  in  the  doings  of  the  world  at  large. 

"I  admit  that  to  some  degree,  but  where  does  one 
meet  here  the  like-minded  people?  Those  who  seek 
happiness  in  amassing  wealth,  or  in  dissipation,  or 
in  a  narrow  club  life,  find  plenty  of  like-minded  com- 
panions ;  but  how  many  people  have  you  met  so  far 
who  make  higher  demands  on  life  and  whose  intel- 
lectual and  emotional  gifts  are  of  an  order  to  make 
mutual  enjoyment  possible?  I  have  known  people 
who  in  Europe  were  most  excellent  companions, 
and  most  desirable  for  social  intercourse;  here  I 
find  them  after  a  few  years  so  changed,  so  strange, 
so  empty,  so  blunted,  so  devoid  of  aspirations,  so 
common-place  that  I  am  glad  to  have  them  keep 
away  from  me.  But  the  few  whom  I  could  recog- 
nize as  like-minded  live  isolated  and  scattered 
throughout  this  large  expanse  of  country,  harbor- 
ing the  same  lonely  thoughts  that  I  and  others  do, 
but  suffer  likewise  from  the  same  fate  that  prevents 
us  from  meeting  and  associating  with  each  other. 
When  I  consider  that  in  this  vast  country  there  are 
perhaps  half  a  dozen  people  to  whom  I  could  feel 
drawn  with  my  whole  soul,  and  that  even  these  few 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  229 

I  shall  perhaps  never  have  the  opportunity  of  meet- 
ing, or  of  associating  with,  then  I  feel  quite  hopeless. 
Men  and  women,  only  men  and  women  with  lofty 
minds  and  noble  hearts,  and  a  pleasant,  cozy  corner 
in  which  to  enjoy  their  companionship  —  more  I  do 
not  want." 

With  all  my  heart  I  agree  with  you,  but  I  am  more 
modest  than  you.  I  do  not  need  half  a  dozen  in 
order  to  be  a  man  among  men.  But  it  is  perhaps 
just  as  hard  to  find  three  as  six.  I,  too,  have  found 
it  easier  to  find  men  in  Europe  without  the  lantern 
of  Diogenes.  There  there  was  more  mutual  under- 
standing, a  greater  need  of  companionship,  of  com- 
mon aspirations,  a  circumstance  that  can  be  readily 
explained  by  the  common  past,  in  part  also  by  the 
greater  want  of  liberty,  while  here  each  one  of  us 
is  seeking  for  a  new  path,  and  the  greater  freedom 
of  life  directs  the  attention  more  to  the  external. 
But  in  Europe  I  have  noticed  a  greater  disposition 
among  women  to  seek  and  cherish  the  society  of 
free  people  than  here.  It  is  remarkable  that  among 
the  five  million  Germans  in  this  country  one  meets 
with  so  few  women  who  by  their  intellect,  their 
character,  and  their  aspirations  rise  above  the  level 
of  philistinism.  But  in  spite  of  this  I  cannot  yet 
bring  myself  to  despair  of  German  women  as  I  do 
of  the  majority  of  German  men. 

"If  we  women  are  nothing  and  accomplish  noth- 
ing it  is  certainly  the  men  who  are  to  blame  for  it, 
for  it  is  a  pity  how  thoroughly  dependent  on  them 


230  THE  BIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

we  still  are.  And  therefore  you  will  yet  make  the 
experience  that  it  is  a  vain  undertaking  to  attempt 
to  influence  the  German  women  and  through  them 
the  German  men.  Because  most  German  men  are 
philistines,  saloon-loungers,  money-makers  and  born 
subjects,  therefore  most  German  women  are  mere 
nothings,  neglected,  prosaic,  apathetic  beings,  with- 
out intellectual  vitality  and  higher  interests;  and 
since  this  is  the  prevailing  condition,  the  few  excep- 
tions are  discouraged  from  coming  to  the  front.  I 
as  a  woman  am  looking  for  superior  men  and  find 
none;  you  as  a  man  are  looking  for  superior  women 
and  find  none.  So  we  can  mutually  console  each 
other,  but  we  shall  both  have  to  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  principally  this  country  and  the  life 
here  that  is  to  blame.  Please  to  bear  in  mind,  more- 
over, this  one  circumstance,  which  seems  to  me  to 
be  of  especial  importance.  In  Europe  nature  and 
culture  unite  in  making  travel  a  joy  and  a  need. 
Traveling  in  beautiful  surroundings  and  in  the  at- 
mosphere of  civilization  stimulates  sociability,  opens 
the  hearts,  and  affords  opportunity  for  making  ac- 
quaintances by  bringing  like-minded  people  to- 
gether in  the  proper  mood.  But  what  has  this  coun- 
try to  offer?  Suppose  you  and  I  and  half  a  dozen 
other  friends  were  to  undertake  a  pleasure  trip  here, 
for  the  sake  of  flapping  our  wings  with  greater  liber- 
ty for  a  while — whither  should  we  turn?  Where  is  the 
Italy  in  whose  beauty  we  could  revel;  where  is  the 
Geneva  Lake  upon  which  we  could  float;  where  is 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  231 

the  Rigi  upon  which  we  could  rest;  where  the  Rhine 
upon  whose  shores  our  fancy  could  disport  itself; 
where  the  Heidelberger  Schloss  in  whose  surround- 
ings we  could  dream;  where,  at  last,  is  even  the  inn 
where  we  could  comfortably  and  joyously  sit  behind 
the  sparkling  goblet,  while  our  madcap  spirits  went 
chasing  each  other?  Nature  as  well  as  society  here 
offers  us  nothing  but  comfortless,  repelling  vul- 
garity; there  is  nothing  engagingly  human  in  men, 
and  nothing  classic  in  Nature  and  its  embellish- 
ments. Perhaps  in  a  hundred  years  travel  can  also 
be  made  enjoyable  in  America;  now  one  can  only  be 
transported  like  an  article  of  freight.  When  will 
our  exile  be  at  an  end?" 

To  this  question  you  will  least  of  all  get  an  answer 
here  where  you  ought  to  expect  it  most.  I  do  not 
know  a  dozen  of  those  boastful  apostles  of  liberty  of 
'48  who  are  still  seriously  interested  in  the  revolution, 
and  who  would  make  a  sacrifice  for  the  sake  of 
shortening  their  exile.  A  proof  how  superficial  their 
zeal  for  liberty  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  water. 
But  even  if  we  can  do  nothing  for  European  liberty 
here,  there  is  still  enough  to  be  done  for  American 
liberty,  and  this  will  indirectly  benefit  the  other. 
What  especially  fills  me  with  hope  of  progress  in 
this  country  is  the  interest  which  is  taken  in  the 
question  of  women's  rights,  and  I  am  curious  to  see 
how  our  German  women  will  now  stand  the  test. 
Do  you  believe  that  the  convention  of  the  German 
women  in  Frauenstadt  will  be  well  attended? 


232  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

"You  must  have  noticed  already  that  I  entertain 
but  small  hopes.  I  am  going  because  I  do  not  want 
to  be  charged  with  having  neglected  a  duty.  I  ad- 
mire the  courage  and  energy  of  your  friend,  Julie 
vom  Berg,  who  has  called  the  convention,  but  I 
fear  that  it  will  be  a  failure,  which  is  worse  than  if 
the  attempt  had  not  been  made." 

There  is  nothing  worse  than  discouragement  at 
the  start.  But  the  whistle  of  the  locomotive  warns 
me  that  we  must  separate.  I  have,  therefore,  a  favor 
to  ask  of  you.  Will  you  undertake  to  report  the 
convention  to  "Der  Pionier?" 

"What  ?  Are  you  not  going  to  attend  the  con- 
vention—  you?" 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  my  duty  calls  for  the  diffi- 
cult sacrifice  of  staying  away.  It  calls  me  to  an- 
other convention  —  to  the  great  convention  of  edi- 
tors at  Cincinnati.  ^ 

"That,  of  course,  is  a  sufficient,  but  also  your  only 
excuse.  Well,  I  will  comply  with  your  request  and 
report  faithfully  to  'Der  Pionier.'  Good-by,  Herr 
Laengst." 


AMD  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.         233 


THE  CONVENTION  OF  GERMAN  WOMEN 
IN  FRAUENSTADT. 

(Correspondence  to  "Der  Pionier,"  Frauenstadt.) 

The  numerous  attendance  and  the  lively  interest 
for  our  cause  which  I  found  here,  compel  me  to 
apologize  for  the  want  of  faith  with  which  I  had  an- 
ticipated this  gathering  of  German  women.  I  al- 
most began  to  feel  reconciled  to  America. 

Promptly  at  the  time  appointed  the  convention 
assembled.  The  large  hall  was  almost  rilled  and 
the  attendance  so  numerous  that  it  astonished  all 
present.  Besides  those  who  had  announced  them- 
selves a  great  many  more  have  come,  partly  from 
the  far  west.  Some  of  the  women  are  accompanied 
by  their  husbands,  some  by  their  brothers,  and  be- 
sides these  men,  several  representatives  of  the  strong 
sex  have  come  alone.  Some  of  them  are  suspected 
to  be  "reporters"  and  "editors,"  but  they  have  not 
yet  made  themselves  known. 

The  first  hour  was  spent  in  welcoming  each  other 
and  becoming  acquainted.  Then  the  meeting  was 
called  to  order  by  the  venerable  Katherine  Schmalz 
of  Philadelphia.  A  most  simple  and  abbreviated 
mode  of  organization  was  adopted.  Mrs.  Schmalz 
proposed  Julie  vom  Berg  as  president,  who,  how- 
ever, declined  the  honor  and  in  her  turn  proposed 


234  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

Ida  Johanna  Braun  of  Boston  Highlands.  The  lat- 
ter was  unanimously  elected.  She  opened  the  con- 
vention with  the  following  words : — 

Ladies — Never  before  did  I  even  dream  of  the 
honor  that  has  just  been  conferred  upon  me,  be- 
cause I  never  before  even  dreamt  of  the  possibility 
of  seeing  so  much  interest  displayed  in  public  affairs, 
and  especially  in  the  questions  for  the  consideration 
of  which'we  have  here  come  together,  by  the  Ger- 
man women  of  this  country,  of  whom,  hitherto, 
nothing  has  ever  been  seen,  except  perhaps  in  beer- 
gardens,  and  nothing  ever  heard,  except  in  the  gibes 
of  men.  This  interest  is  all  the  more  a  pleasant  sur- 
prise to  me  because  it  seems  to  'have  matured  in  si- 
lence and  required  only  a  stimulus  to  come  to  light. 
But  I  am  convinced  that  nobody  will  be  more  sur- 
prised than  the  mass  of  our  countrymen,  for  in  no 
country,  hitherto,  have  women  been  so  removed 
from  public  life  as  in  Germany,  and  in  no  country 
has  the  male  sex  been  so  unanimously  intent,  with 
gibes  and  vulgarity,  on  driving  her  back  into  her  so- 
called  "sphere,"  as  in  our  old  fatherland.  Even  on 
this  side  of  the  water  we  have  long  enough  suffered 
from  the  effects  of  former  conditions.  But  here, 
where  so  many  limitations,  by  which  we  had  been 
hemmed  in  on  the  other  side,  have  been  removed, 
we  have,  it  seems,  gradually  learned  to  find  our 
bearings  and  to  act  according  to  our  own  impulses. 
I  hope  that  our  coming  together  here  will  prove  this 
and  will  spread  the  conviction,  through  the  fruits  of 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  235 

its  activity,  that  our  interference  with  social  devel- 
opment was  neither  useless  nor  unjustifiable.  We 
may  frankly  admit  that  the  American  women  have 
set  us  an  example,  and  have  in  many  respects  put  us 
to  shame.  If  that  is  a  reproach  to  us,  it  lies  entirely 
with  us  to  clear  ourselves  of  it  by  setting  an  example, 
in  our  turn,  to  American  women,  which  they  need 
quite  as  much  as  we  did  theirs.  I  am  alluding  to 
struggles  impending  in  the  near  future,  which  will 
at  the  same  time  give  our  German  men  an  oppor- 
tunity for  freeing  themselves  from  prejudice  and  of 
becoming  reconciled  to  our  aspirations.  I  do  not 
consider  it  doubtful  that  American  women  will, 
within  a  short  time,  succeed  in  gaining  the  right  of 
suffrage.  They  will  gain  it  for  us,  too,  and  therefore 
it  would  be  doubly  disgraceful  for  us  to  bear  no  part 
whatever  in  the  achievement,  and  to  accept  a  right 
from  their  hands  without  some  desert  of  our  own. 
This  is  a  point  of  honor  with  us.  We  cannot  permit 
it  to  be  said  of  us  that,  like  slaves,  we  have  received 
a  right  as  a  present.  Those,  only,  who  help  to  fight 
for  it  deserve  it  truly.  And  while  we  take  part  in  the 
struggle  we  at  the  same  time  appeal  to  the  honor  of 
German  men  who  cannot  wish  to  expose  themselves 
to  the  disgrace  of  withholding  from  their  women  a 
right  that  others  grant  them.  These  men  will  at  the 
same  time  come  to  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  not 
only  their  honor,  but  their  interest  as  well,  bid  them 
to  promote  our  intellectual  activity  and  our  partici- 
pation in  public  affairs  as  much  as  possible.    I  seem 


236  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

to  foresee  that  the  granting  of  the  right  of  suffrage 
to  the  women  of  America  will,  in  the  beginning  at 
least,  strengthen  that  political  party  which  will  strive 
to  limit  social  freedom  by  means  of  a  moral  police, 
and  to  increase  the  power  of  the  clergy  by  religious 
compulsion.  What  this  party  did  not  hitherto  suc- 
ceed in  doing  it  may  perhaps  do  with  the  help  of 
the  American  women,  who,  on  the  average,  still  are 
more  dependent  on  the  representatives  of  religion 
than  American  men;  it  will  certainly  succeed  if  the 
increase  of  votes  received  by  the  accession  to  its 
ranks  of  those  women  will  not  be  counterbalanced. 
And  who  can  and  must  counterbalance  this  increase 
in  votes?  None  other  than  the  German  women! 
(General  applause.)  We  might  have  the  best  of  op- 
portunities to  let  the  German  men  become  very  un- 
comfortably aware  of  what  they  did,  when  they  lim- 
ited our  "sphere"  to  the  kitchen  and  nursery.  Should 
we  but  decline  to  make  use  of  a  right  which  they  had 
wished  to  withhold  from  us,  we  could  expose  our 
German  brothers  defenselessly  to  the  tyranny  of 
temperance  fanatics.  But  no.  Let  us  not  revenge 
ourselves  because  men  were  blind  enough  to  dis- 
qualify us  at  their  own  expense.  Let  us  least  of  all 
revenge  ourselves  by  foregoing  our  own  rights.  I 
see  the  time  coming  when  those  of  our  "Masters" 
who  in  the  most  rudely  insulting  manner  referred 
us  to  the  "sphere"  dictated  by  themselves  will  beg 
us  to  leave  that  "sphere"  and  accompany  them  to  the 
polls,  in  order  that  they  may  continue  'to  drink  their 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  237 

beer  in  peace  and  not  be  confined  to  that  same 
"sphere,"  which  they  always  described  to  us  as  so 
beautiful,  but  which  they  were  wont  to  honor  with 
their  presence  only  when  they  were  hungry  or 
sleepy.  Should  we  leave  them  in  the  lurch?  Let  us 
rather  come  to  their  assistance,  not  in  a  magnani- 
mous spirit,  however,  but  in  order  to  do  our  share 
in  securing  liberty  and  justice.  And  that  we  may 
be  prepared  for  this  work  it  is  necessary  to  make 
our  appearance  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and  to  begin 
to  drill  in  good  season. 

But  while  we  are  thus  assisting  the  German  men 
to  combat  temperance  tyranny  and  religious  fanati- 
cism, we  have,  at  the  same  time,  the  best  of  oppor- 
tunities to  set  an  example  of  intellectual  freedom  to 
American  women,  and  to  thus  show  our  gratitude 
for  the  example  they  gave  us  in  their  struggle  for 
political  freedom. 

But  even  that  is  not  the  whole  of  our  mission. 
Our  public  activity  and  its  consequences  will  not 
be  limited  to  this  country;  it  will  serve  as  an  in- 
centive to  our  country-women  on  the  other  side  of 
the  ocean,  and  I  hope  that  we  shall  succeed  in  suc- 
cessfully co-operating  with  them  and  especially  in 
convincing  them  that  without  political  freedom,  and 
without  a  republic,  the  female  sex  cannot  hope  for 
an  improvement  of  their  lot. 

Before  closing  permit  me  to  say  a  few  words  con- 
cerning the  attitude  we  must  take  in  this  struggle 
for  reform  in  order  to  gain  our  end.    Are  we  to  iso- 


238  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

late  ourselves  or  not?  And  if  not,  with  whom  ought 
we  to  combine?  That  is  the  question.  If  there  is 
any  portion  of  the  population  of  a  state  that  deserves 
to  be  designated  as  a  class  it  is  the  women.  A  class 
in  a  political  sense  is  caused  by  legal  privilege  or 
disfranchisement.  The  negroes  were  a  class  so  long 
as  they  had  not  the  right  of  suffrage.  The  wealthy 
form  a  class  when  the  right  of  suffrage  and  govern- 
ment depends  on  the  possession  of  money.  But  the 
entire  female  half  of  humanity  bears  the  most  pro- 
nounced class-character.  It  has  always  been  dis- 
tinguished in  all  countries,  even  by  the  disfranchised 
class  of  the  male  portion,  as  the  class  without  rights. 
That  she  could  in  no  way  be  dispensed  with  has 
been  her  only  protection ;  and  the  only  guarantee  of 
her  rights  has  rested  with  the  chivalry  of  men.  We 
daily  read,  nowadays,  of  the  class-distinctions  which 
are  called  out  and  fostered  by  the  "laborers"  in  Eu- 
rope as  well  as  in  America/the  object  being  to  de- 
velop the  most  intense  "class-consciousness,"  which 
must  finally  lead  to  "class-wars."  Now,  we  women 
need  not  have  recourse  to  artificial  means  in  order 
to  call  out  a  "class-consciousness"  among  us.  The 
state  as  well  as  nature  stamp  us  as  the  largest  and 
most  disfranchised  class  in  the  world.  If  we  were 
to  adopt  the  tactics  of  the  laborers,  we  would  regard 
only  our  special  interests,  concern  ourselves  only 
with  that  which  is  wanting  to  and  oppressing  us  as 
women,  we  would  isolate  ourselves  as  women  and 
as  the  woman-class  take  our  stand  against  the  entire 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  239 

man-class.  The  mere  suggestion  of  such  an  idea  is 
sufficient  to  make  all  the  folly  and  narrow-minded- 
ness of  it  clear  to  everybody.  Just  because  it 
was  narrow-mindedness  and  exclusion  that  have 
driven  us  into  a  position  of  disqualification, 
we,  in  our  turn,  must  occupy  higher  ground, 
upon  which  narrow-mindedness  and  exclusion 
disappear.  It  is  the  standpoint  of  a  com- 
mon humanity,  of  common  human  rights.  Upon 
this  standpoint  we  learn  to  unite  with  all  individuals 
and  with  all  classes,  who  in  the  conception  of  com- 
mon rights  also  recognize  and  strive  for  our  rights ; 
we  further  learn  to  look  upon  every  right  for  which 
others  struggle  as  our  own  cause,  even  if  it  does 
not  direotly  accrue  to  our  advantage ;  and  in  com- 
batting every  wrong  that  is  perpetrated  on  others  we 
ward  off  a  blow  directed  to  the  common  rights  in 
Which  we  also  share.  If  the  negro  rattles  his  chains, 
we  must  help  him  break  them;  if  the  laborer  fights 
with  his  exploiter,  we  must  take  his  part ;  when  na- 
tions rise  against  their  oppressors,  we  must  take 
part  in  the  uprising;  and  when  intellectual  liberty 
scores  a  victory  in  a  field  where  the  art  of  mystifica- 
tion and  dogmatic  barbarity  have  heretofore  held 
sway,  we  must  hail  it  as  a  benefactor  of  mankind. 
In  short,  whenever  the  question  is  one  of  human 
rights,  and  of  the  diffusion  of  humanity,  liberty  and 
truth,  there  we  must  'take  part  and  help,  not  only  for 
the  sake  of  satisfying  our  own  natures,  and  of  put- 
ting to  shame  those  who  declare  us  incompetent  to 


240  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

fill  the  requirements  of  a  higher  human  calling,  but 
also  for  the  sake  of  our  own  interests.  For  it.  is  de- 
termined by  the  law  of  social  development  that  the 
lot  of  woman  deteriorates  on  a  progressive  scale,  as 
right  and  general  enlightenment  retrograde,  that 
she,  as  the  weaker  party,  must  hold  her  claims  to 
justice  in  abeyance  until  justice  has  become  general 
in  the  masculine  sphere,  and  that  its  true  apprecia- 
tion and  its  noblest  effect  can  appear  only  after  evo- 
lution has  swept  away  every  vestige  of  vulgarity, 
violence  and  narrowness.  Therefore  women  com- 
prehend their  true  interests  only  when  their  sym- 
pathy for  right  and  truth  is  general,  and  when  they 
extend  their  support  to  every  radical  cause.  The 
realization  of  radicalism  is  the  future,  the  resurrec- 
tion, the  "millennium  of  women." 

This  address  of  the  president  was  received  with 
general  and  most  enthusiastic  applause. 

After  this  the  organization  of  the  meeting  was 
completed  by  the  election  of  the  following  officers 
and  committees: 

Vice  President — Julie  Morgenroth. 

Secretaries — Johanna  Fluegel,  Caroline  Poltz. 

Treasurer — Anna  Alsen. 

Committee  on  Resolutions — Julie  vom  Berg, 
Marg.  Fluegel,  Marie  Zehringer. 

Committee  on  Miscellaneous  Business — Cath. 
Heisterbach,  Mrs.  Felsenthal,  Elise  Luebke. 

Hereupon  the  motion  was  made  to  adjourn  the 
meeting  until  3  p.  m.    But  before  the  vote  could  be 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  EELATIONS.  241 

taken  a  committee  of  the  German  radicals  of 
Frauenstadt  appeared  upon  the  scene  to  invite  the 
entire  delegation  of  ladies  to  take  a  drive  and  to  view 
the  city  and  vicinity.  A  long  train  of  carriages  was 
waiting  on  the  street.  The  invitation  was  accepted 
and  the  meeting  adjourned  until  the  next  morning. 
The  weather  was  mild  and  suggestive  of  spring,  and 
all  felt  themselves  most  agreeably  entertained  and 
refreshed  by  the  drive.  Upon  their  return  the  com- 
pany again  halted  at  the  hall  of  the  meeting  and  were 
not  a  little  surprised  to  find  it  transformed  into  a 
great  dining  hall,  with  tables  spread  with  a  steaming 
repast.  It  was  a  simple  meal,  but  substantial  and 
savory,  and  over  the  excellent  wine  many  a  toast  was 
offered  full  of  the  spirit  of  the  hour.  The  German 
radicals  were  treated  with  special  distinctions  and 
felt  themselves  sufficiently  rewarded  for  their  pains 
by  the  graceful  thanks  that  were  tendered  them. 
After  dinner  coffee  was  served  and  a  few  hours  were 
spent  in  agreeable  conversation,  whereupon  the 
company  dispersed  in  excellent  mood  to  meet  again 
the  next  morning. 

On  this  occasion  I  made  the  experience  that  so- 
ciability could  be  found  even  in  America. 

SECOND   DAY. 

After  the  minutes  of  the  previous  session  had  been 
read  and  approved,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Goetzling  was 
introduced  to  the  meeting. 

REV.  GOETZLING — It  is  as  much  of  an  honor 
as  a  deeply  felt  happiness  to  me  to  be  able  to  attend 


242  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

this  noble  assembly.    It  is  not  in  vain  that  the  poet, 
our  highly  honored  Kloppstock,  says : 
"Honor  to  woman!    To  her  it  is  given! 
To  garden  the  earth  with  the  roses  of  Heaven!" 

SEVERAL    VOICES— Does    Kloppstock    say 
that? 

REV.  GOETZLING— Ah,  so  you,  too,  love  the 
adorable  poet?  The  singer  of  the  "Messiah''  has 
always  been  my  favorite  and  he  appreciated  woman 
very  highly.  But  as  the  expression  "to  garden  the 
earth  with  the  roses  of  Heaven"  indicates,  we  are 
always  to  look  aloft  with  one  eye  while  the  other  is 
directed  toward  the  earth.  Only  when  the  father  in 
Heaven  lends  his  assistance,  can  the  worldly  work, 
succeed.  Even  the  unchristian  Goethe  says:  "The 
blessing  comes  from  on  high."  (Murmurs  and 
laughter.)  And,  'therefore,  my  sisters,  allow  me  to 
remind  you  of  the  beautiful  example  set  you  by  your 
American  sisters,  who  convene  their  assemblies  with 
an  invocation  from  the  word  of  God  and  open  them 
with  a  prayer  to  Him.  It  is  the  deep  interest  that  I 
take  in  your  enterprise  and  the  Christian  sympathy 
I  feel  for  you  personally,  that  moves  me  to  offer 
myself  to  you  as  mediator  with  Him  to  whom  we 
owe  everything.  Let  us,  therefore,  my  beloved  sis- 
ters, open  our  meeting  with  an  ardent  prayer. 

PRESIDENT— It  is  self-evident  that  outside  of 
the  members  proper  of  this  convention  no  one  has  a 
right  to  participate  in  its  deliberations.  Neverthe- 
less everybody,  not  a  member,  even  every  opponent, 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  243 

has  free  access  to  this  convention,  and  may  express 
his  opinion,  on  condition  that  he  will  not  interfere 
with  the  business  of  the  meeting.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Goetzling  is  personally  welcome,  like  any  other  in- 
dividual, but  his  position  does  not  entitle  him  to 
assume  a  function  at  his  own  pleasure.  No  motion 
has  been  made  to  open  our  session  with  prayer.  But 
to  show  every  possible  liberality,  and  to  formally 
establish  the  pleasure  of  the  meeting,  I  shall  put  it  to 
a  vote  whether  we  are  to  accept  the  reverend  gentle- 
man's offer  or  not. 

CATHERINE  SCHMALZ— Before  the  vote  is 
taken  I  should  like  to  make  a  few  remarks.  The 
reverend  gentleman  addressed  us  as  sisters.  No 
doubt  he  means  sisters  in  Christ.  But  I  for  my  per- 
son stand  in  no  relation  to  him  whatever,  neither  in 
nor  out  of  Christ.  Other  members  of  the  assembly, 
whom  I  know,  are  as  little  inclined  to  call  him 
brother  as  I  am.  We  certainly  all  wish  him  well, 
but  I  can  desire  nothing  better  for  him  than  that  he 
may  go  and  pray  no  more  and  no  more  molest 
others.  (Applause.)  I  have  not  prayed  since  I  be- 
gan to  think  for  myself,  and  none  of  my  seven  chil- 
dren has  ever  learned  how.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
I  have  taught  them  to  do  what  is  right,  and  have 
given  them  this  rule  to  guide  them  through  life,  "do 
right  and  fear  no  one,"  be  it  God  or  man.  Of  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  I  have  retained  only  this 
one:  "Do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  them  do 
unto  you,"  but  have  added  to  it,  "Whatever  you 


244  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

desire  for  yourself,  grant  it  also  to  others,  and  help 
them  to  the  best  of  your  ability  to  procure  it,  espe- 
cially the  common  rights  of  man.  These  are  the 
principles  according  to  which  my  children  have  been 
brought  up,  and  four  of  them  have  become  righteous, 
active  and  generally  respected  men,  while  the  other 
three  are  lovable,  good  and  happy  women.  But  I 
myself  look  back  upon  the  sixty-five  years  of  my 
life  as  upon  a  cheerful,  blooming,  fertile  landscape, 
which  I  myself  have  planted.  How,  on  the  other 
hand,  have  those  of  my  acquaintances  fared  who 
have  been  brought  up  on  praying  and  church-go- 
ing? I  do  not  know  of  a  single  one  who  has  not 
either  developed  into  a  hypocrite  or  gone  to  the  bad, 
and  not  one  of  them  was  happy.  Three  of  them  have 
married  ministers,  and  of  these  three  one  died  in  an 
insane  asylum,  the  other  committed  suicide  by  hang- 
ing herself,  and  the  third  could  save  herself  from 
her  pious  surroundings  only  by  eloping  with  the 
sexton  to  Australia.  I  should  rather  be  here  in 
America  than  in  Australia.  Let  us  remain  here  and 
gratefully  decline  the  reverend  gentleman's  pious 
offer. 

(Cries  of  "Question!  Question!") 

The  offer  of  the  clergyman  is  unanimously  de- 
clined, whereupon  he  leaves  the  hall. 

The  President  now  requested  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  to  report,  and  Julie  vom  Berg,  chair- 
man of  the  committee,  at  last  had  an  opportunity 
to  read  the  following  resolutions : 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  EELATIONS.  245 

1.  The  degradation  and  subordination  of  woman 
had  its  origin  in  the  most  barbaric  primeval  ages,  in 
man's  superior  physical  strength  and  wildness  of 
temperament,  and  received  permanent  sanction 
from  the  monstrous  creations  of  his  ignorance  and 
delusion,  which  placed  a  "God"  upon  the  throne  of 
the  world  without  a  goddess,  and  created  man  in  the 
"image"  of  this  "God,"  and  woman  merely  from  a 
"rib"  of  this  man.  The  belief  in  God  and  its  impli- 
cations excludes  the  equality  of  woman  from  the 
start.  The  religious  woman  is  the  upholder  of  her 
own  debasement,  and  only  the  pure,  sovereign 
human  mind  is  the  savior  of  her  dignity  and  of  her 
rights. 

2.  The  profound  prejudice  which  has  accus- 
tomed men  to  look  upon  the  difference  of  the  sexes 
as  an  inequality  must  be  traced  back  to  the  origin 
of  mankind.  The  manner  in  which  the  first  men  as 
well  as  the  first  animals  originated  is  a  mystery ;  but 
this  manner,  as  well  as  the  matter  from  which  they 
originated,  must  have  been  the  same  for  both  sexes, 
and  this  equality  must  by  their  union  logically  have 
been  preserved  to  the  present  day.  Animals  know 
of  no  inequality  of  the  sexes  and  unite  on  a  basis  of 
equal  rights  for  a  common  life-purpose.  Man  alone, 
who  has  the  power  to  depart  from  nature,  in  order  to 
return  to  it  as  a  thinking  being,  could  become  so 
barbarous  as  to  sophisticate  the  companionship  by 
an  arbitrary  subordination  of  the  weaker  sex,  thus 
establishing  a  union  upon  a  difference  of  rights. 


246  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

3.  The  conception  of  man  as  a  genus  excludes 
every  inequality  of  rights  as  an  inherent  contradic- 
tion and  irrationality.  Equality  of  kind  implies 
equality  of  rights.  By  subordinating  woman  man 
raves  against  himself.  If  vulgarity  and  habit  have 
led  him  to  make  this  monstrous  mistake  of  branding 
his  mother  and  his  wife  as  slaves  by  disqualifying 
them,  while  he  would  have  his  children  and  himself 
free,  of  degrading  the  woman  below  himself  while 
desiring  to  love  her  as  an  equal,  then  the  time  has 
indeed  come  when  he  must  be  brought  to  realize 
this  contradiction,  by  the  abolition  of  which,  alone, 
will  he  himself,  as  well  as  woman,  be  able  to  occupy 
their  true  position  in  life. 

4.  Equal  rights  will  suffer  no  deductions  and  no 
exceptions.  They  can  be  thought  of  only  as  a  com- 
plete, absolute,  individual  sovereignty,  secured  from 
all  sides,  in  the  state  as  well  as  in  the  family,  in  social 
as  well  as  business  intercourse.  To  exclude  woman 
from  suffrage  is  simply  tyranny;  to  subordinate  her 
in  the  family  is  barbarism;  to  limit  her  in  social 
intercourse  is  arbitrariness;  to  measure  the  fruits 
of  her  labor  with  an  unequal  standard  is  fraud. 

5.  In  the  family,  as  well  as  in  the  state,  this  col- 
lection of  families,  interests,  sentiments  and  aspira- 
tions can  be  brought  into  a  state  of  humane  har- 
mony only  by  a  co-operation  of  both  sexes  on  a 
basis  of  equality.  The  one-sided  preponderance  of 
one  sex  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other  from  public 
activity  is  not  accompanied  merely  by  the  disastrous 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  247 

consequences  which  inevitably  follow  every  sup- 
pression of  rights,  but  must  needs  maintain  a  de- 
fective, discontented  state  of  society,  by  depriving  it 
of  the  co-operation  of  its  noblest  perfecting  and 
humanizing  forces.  All  reforms  will  remain  frag- 
mentary and  botch-work  so  long  as  not  all  the  mem- 
bers of  society  can  participate  in  them  as  equals. 

6.  The  foundation  of  a  humane  co-operation  of 
both  the  sexes  in  the  state  is  their  personal  union  in 
marriage  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  family.  But 
in  order  that  marriage  may  accomplish  its  aim  of  a 
harmonious  relationship,  it  must  be  the  result  of  a 
free  need  and  a  free  choice,  and  not  be  treated  as  a 
duty  and  a  coercion.  It  is  a  glaring  inconsistency  to 
expect  free  individuals  to  unite  to  form  a  state  in 
order  that  this  same  state  may,  through  the  institu- 
tion of  marriage,  rob  them  of  their  individual  liberty. 

It  is  the  inherent  and  exclusive  right  of  every  in- 
dividual to  determine  his  own  actions.  This  right 
cannot  'be  forfeited  by  a  voluntary  union  with  an- 
other individual.  Marriage  is  a  free  relationship  be- 
tween sovereign  and  equal  individuals,  entered  into 
for  the  sake  of  mutual  happiness,  and  its  dissolution, 
as  well  as  its  contraction,  cannot  be  determined  by 
any  other  will  than  that  of  the  united  parties,  even 
although  the  conception  of  a  true  marriage  presup- 
poses a  union  for  life. 

Corresponding  to  this  conception  of  marriage, 
and  the  equality  of  the  two  individuals  concerned  in 
it,  all  the  property  of  the  united  couple,  that  which 


248  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

was  brought  into  the  union,  and  that  which  is  accu- 
mulated by  both  in  common,  must,  as  the  basis  of 
their  united  existence,  be  administrated  in  common, 
and  must,  in  case  of  a  separation,  be  divided  in  equal 
parts. 

7.  So  long  as  perfect  equality  in  all  departments 
of  life  has  not  been  established,  and  an  equal  op- 
portunity for  education  in  their  chosen  calling,  in 
any  field,  has  not  been  secured  to  both  sexes  alike, 
a  proportionately  larger  share  of  the  property  of  the 
parents  should  by  inheritance  fall  to  the  female  chil- 
dren, for  the  purpose  of  securing  their  existence. 

Thus  far  the  resolutions.  Julie  vom  Berg  recom- 
mended their  adoption  with  the  following  remarks : 

I  need  not  call  special  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  resolutions  are  somewhat  irregular  in  form,  and 
also  ignore  many  a  point  upon  which  much  empha- 
sis is  generally  placed,  on  similar  occasions.  These 
points  have  received  such  frequent  consideration 
that  we  have  intentionally  avoided  their  repetition. 
While  we  were  careful  to  duly  acknowledge  general 
principles,  our  chief  concern  was  to  emphasize  those 
sides  of  the  question  which  usually,  especially  in 
American  conventions,  are  ignored  or  receive  a  false 
interpretation.  While,  for  instance,  American 
women  make  the  mistake  of  attempting  the  confir- 
mation of  their  rights  by  religious  authorities,  our 
special  object  is  to  show  that  religion  itself  —  this 
eternal  enemy  of  nature  and  free  humanity  —  con- 
tains the  root  of  the  tyranny,  which  has  ever  de- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  249 

graded  one-half  of  humanity  to  be  the  servant  and 
slave  of  the  other  half.  Only  nature  and  reason  can 
assign  us  our  proper  place;  all  religions  begin  and 
end  with  our  degradation,  but  especially  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  the  most  unnatural  and  inhuman  of 
all.  Have  Christians  ever  doubted  the  human  na- 
ture of  male  man?  Have  they  ever  classified  him 
as  an  animal?  In  the  middle  ages  the  question  was 
discussed  whether  woman  was  a  human  being.  But 
they  nevertheless,  since  they  could  not  do  without 
her,  assigned  'her  a  high  position  in  the  divine  royal 
family,  not,  however,  without  first  divesting  her  of 
all  womanly  or  human  attributes,  except  the  "seven 
swords"  in  her  breast.  Perhaps  this,  too,  is  an  illus- 
tration to  the  Christian  command :  Taceat  muJier  in 
ecclesia  —  'let  the  woman  be  silent  in  the  church"— 
she  may  not  speak,  but  she  may  weap.  And  she  has 
indeed  wept  enough,  both  with  and  without  swords 
in  her  breast,  and  not  only  in  the  Christian  church. 
I  hear  her  weeping  in  the  Mohammedan  church, 
where  she  is  driven  in  troops  to  satisfy  male  lust;  I 
hear  her  weeping  in  the  Babylonian  church,  where 
she  was  at  the  mercy  of  every  stranger,  for  money, 
which  the  priest  pocketed;  I  hear  her  weeping  in 
the  Hindoo  church,  which  drove  her  living  into  the 
flames,  that  it  might  write  a  ghastly  epitaph  for  the 
dead  master  with  the  coal  of  the  burned  slave.  Hun- 
dreds of  thousands  and  millions  of  these  epitaphs 
'have  been  'written  since  the  religious  campaign  of 
Alexander,  during  two  thousand  years,  and  they  are 


250  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

still  being  written  to-day.  It  is  surprising  that 
Christianity,  which  also  at  a  later  day  came  to 
greatly  relish  roasted  living  human  flesh,  has  not 
adopted  this  Hindoo  method  of  beatification. 

Thus  the  spirit  of  all  religions  established  by  men, 
whose  pious  delig'ht  has  always  been  in  human  sacri- 
fice, the  sacrifice  of  the  helpless,  has  understood  the 
rights  of  women !  If  woman  wished,  by  a  single  fact, 
to  prove  herself  the  representative  -of  true  humanity, 
and  by  a  single  word  to  deny  all  complicity  in  the 
misery  of  the  world,  she  need  but  say:  Never  has  a 
woman,  whatever  else  she  may  have  done,  in  the 
capacity  of  queen,  for  instance,  never  has  she 
founded  a  religion! 

In  drawing  up  our  resolutions  we  have  gone  back 
to  nature,  this  fountain  head  of  all  knowledge,  to 
open  men's  eyes  to  the  barbaric  prejudice  that  per- 
meates all  his  opinions,  habits  and  laws,  and  through 
which  he  has  deemed  himself  justified  in  conducting 
himself  as  the  lord  and  owner  of  his  fellow-beings 
of  the  feminine  sex.  Not  until  he  has  become  en- 
tirely conscious  of  this  prejudice,  not  until  he  has 
learned  to  recognize  in  the  subordination  of  woman 
the  debasement  of  his  own  race  and  humanity,  will 
he  be  able  to  grant  equal  rights  to  us  honestly  and 
completely.  Before  this  even  the  most  just  and  hu- 
mane man  will  concede  them  more  or  less  as  an  act 
of  mercy,  rather  than  a  demand  of  inexorable  logic, 
the  fulfillment  of  a  categorical  command  of  duty,  the 
expiation  of  an  ancient  wrong.    But  when  this  false 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  251 

fundamental  conception  that  a  difference  of  sex  may 
involve  a  difference  of  rights,  and  annul  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  individual,  is  once  destroyed,  it  will 
become  clear  to  everyone  that  all  further  objections 
to  the  absolute  equality  of  rights  can  be  turned 
against  men  as  well  as  against  women. 

In  touching  upon  a  few  other  points  we  wished 
to  indicate  the  consequences  of  equal  rights  upon 
relations  which  are  generally  passed  over  in  silence, 
but  which  have  hitherto  been  regulated  entirely  to 
the  disadvantage  of  woman,  and  are  rarely  con- 
ceived of  in  a  radical  sense.  I  am  tempted  to  ask 
the  question  whether  men  would  ever  have  thought 
of  founding  the  institution  they  call  marriage  if  they 
had  felt  sure  that  without  it  women  would  be  as 
eager  to  do  their  "dirties"  as  they  themselves  have 
always  been  to  disregard  theirs.  The  women  were 
to  be  chained  while  the  men  went  free.  This  seems 
to  have  been  the  original  meaning  of  man-created 
"marriage."  Marriage  as  reformed  by  women  abol- 
ishes all  chains  as  superfluous  in  the  true,  and  disas- 
trous in  the  false,  union. 

The  motion  to  adopt  the  resolutions,  in  toto,  was 
favorably  received  by  many,  especially  by  Marie 
Zehringer  of  St.  Louis,  wibo  spoke  as  follows : 

"It  is  incomprehensible  to  me  how  a  woman, 
who  is  not  entirely  devoid  of  judgment  and  self- 
respect,  can  love  a  man  and  accept  him  as  her  com- 
panion for  life,  who  does  not  grant  her  every  right 
which  he  claims  for  himself.    By  the  assumption  of 


252  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

a  difference  or  by  the  denial  of  her  rights,  he  either 
declares  her  as  unable  or  as  unworthy  to  stand  upon 
an  equal  plane  with  himself;  he  divests  her  of  her 
human  dignity  or  degrades  her  into  a  second-class 
human  being.  He  says  to  her:  I  >love  you  as  a  per- 
son, but  this  person  has  no  will  of  her  own,  only  my 
will;  you  are  an  angel,  but  this  angel  does  not 
know  what  she  is  about ;  I  adore  you  as  a  goddess, 
but  this  goddess  has  not  brains  enough  to  judge  of 
the  most  commonplace  things;  you  can  make  me 
happy  for  life,  but  you  cannot  decide  what  is  good 
or  bad,  right  or  wrong,  reasonable  or  unreasonable ; 
I  am  wholly  yours,  but  I  am  your  law-maker  and 
your  judge;  all  my  possessions  are  at  your  disposal, 
but  I  must  be  your  guardian,  and  must  vote  for  you 
as  the  slave-holder  does  for  the  slave ;  you  are  my 
mistress  in  theory,  but  my  servant  in  practice.  How 
ought  she  to  answer  all  these  inconsistencies?  Sim- 
ply thus :  You  are  either  a  hypocrite  in  your  profes- 
sions of  love,  or  a  fool  in  your  arrogance ;  in  the  first 
case,  I  despise  you,  and  in  the  second  case,  I  laugh 
at  you,  but  in  no  case  do  I  love  you.    Adieu ! 

The  contradictions  in  which  men  involve  them- 
selves, in  their  struggle  against  'the  equality  of  the 
sexes,  are  as  obvious  as  they  are  innumerable.  They 
think  they  are  paying  us  the  very  highest  compli- 
ment when,  in  assigning  us  our  "sphere"  in  their 
well-known  arbitrary  manner,  they  entrust  us  with 
the  high  task  of  educating  their  children.  We  are  to 
be  educators  without  having  had  an  education  our- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  253 

selves.  We  are  to  do  our  share  in  making  the  chil- 
dren worthy  members  of  society,  competent  citizens, 
without  having  learned  ourselves  what  society 
needs,  and  What  constitutes  a  good  citizen.  We  are 
to  teach  them  the  rights  of  man  when  we  have  none 
ourselves.  We  are  slaves  and  are  expected  to  rear 
free  men;  we  are  brought  up  as  dolls,  and  are  en- 
trusted with  the  task  of  training  men.  In  short,  we 
are  charged  with  incapacity  for  and  deprived  of  the 
opportunity  of  learning  and  practicing  the  very 
thing  which  it  is  to  be  our  highest  task  to  teach. 

But  although  women  in  general  have  no  oppor- 
tunity to  fit  themselves  for  public  life,  they  neverthe- 
less show,  in  all  questions  that  do  not  require  a 
special  training,  that  they  stand  on  the  right  side.  I 
need  only  to  call  to  mind  the  slave  question. 
Slavery,  so  long  admired  by  the  majority  of  men, 
would  certainly  have  been  abolished  several  decades 
earlier  had  women  had  a  voice  in  the  matter.  That 
women  of  the  South,  spoiled  by  education,  and  de- 
humanized by  habit,  have  taken  the  side  of  slavery 
need  not  astonish  us ;  but  how  many  women  in  the 
North  sided  with  this  'barbaric  institution,  of  the 
preservation  of  which  the  men  made  a  vital  ques- 
tion? And  especially  among  the  German  women, 
where  do  you  find  that  revolting  fanaticism  for 
slavery,  that  stupid  'hatred  of  the  negro,  by  which 
the  majority  of  the  German  men  have  distinguished 
and  are  stil'l  distinguishing  themselves  as  "Demo- 
crats?"   I  have  never  yet  found  a  German  woman 


254  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

who  hated  a  negro  woman  on  account  of  her  color. 
To  the  disgrace  of  our  nationality  be  it  said  that 
there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  German  male 
"Democrats,"  but  to  the  honor  of  our  sex  be  it  like- 
wise said,  very  few  female  "Democrats." 

The  test  has  never  yet  been  made  how  much 
woman  in  general  can  accomplish,  but  rather  the 
test  to  what  degree  her  capacities  can  be  curbed. 
And  yet  the  sons  of  the  mothers  who  have  been  put 
to  this  test  have  not  all  turned  out  idiots  and  bar- 
barians !  Ought  not  that  to  arouse  a  desire  in  men 
to  see  what  can  be  made  of  women,  if  they  are  not 
only  placed  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  men,  but 
also  receive  equal  liberty  and  opportunity  to  de- 
velop their  capacities  and  unfold  their  activities? 
We  always  point  with  satisfaction  to  the  fact  that 
great  men  usually  had  excellent  mothers.  The 
qualities  of  the  mothers  are  therefore  to  be  consid- 
ered an  index  to  the  qualities  of  the  sons,  and  the 
influence  of  a  mother  does  not  seldom  decide  the 
trend  of  a  whole  life.  And  yet  there  seems  to  be  a 
determination  to  limit  the  number  of  superior 
women  as  much  as  possible,  by  hindering  the  de- 
velopment of  their  faculties.  Do  not  the  men  thus 
defraud  themselves  most  surely,  while  they  think 
they  are  working  for  their  own  best  interests?  When 
the  mothers  are  enslaved  and  degraded,  the  sons  can 
not  be  born  as  champions  of  liberty  and  men  of 
genius.  Let  us  turn  our  eyes  to  the  Orient.  Is  it 
not,  and  will  it  not  always  be,  an  intellectual  desert, 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.          255 

a  monotonous  merely  vegetating  spiritual  waste,  a 
hopeless  stagnation?    And  why?    Because  woman 
is  everywhere  degraded  to  an  unconscious  slave  and 
incapacitated  for  producing  other  beings  than  after 
the  prevailing  type.    When  do  we  ever  hear  of  one 
remarkable  intellect,  one  superior  character  among 
the  hundreds  of  sons  of  which  a  Sultan  or  lord  of  a 
harem  can  boast?    And  yet  their  mothers  are  the 
most  charming,  the  choicest  specimens  of  their  sex; 
and  yet  their  fathers  have  all  the  means  at  their  dis- 
posal to  give  their  sons  every  opportunity  for  the 
development  of  their  faculties.    Even  if  these  fathers 
were  all  men  of  genius,  the  sons  would  neverthe- 
less be  born  stupid  and  degraded  because  all  higher 
nature,  all  intellectual  life  has  been  killed  in  the 
mothers  by  the  customary  degradation  and  slavery. 
But  we  need  not  go  to  the  Orient,  to  the  so-called 
heathen,  we  have  instructive  examples  in  our  midst, 
which  can  at  the  same  time  bear  witness  to  the 
blessings  of  Christianity,    Within  this  great  republic 
Christianity  has  bred  an  offspring  which,  so  far  as 
the  female  sex  is  concerned,  might  serve  as  a  model 
to  the  Turkc.    The  Mormons  consider  it  their  mis- 
sion to  populate  heaven,  and  for  this  purpose  they 
provide  for  the  greatest  possible  increase  of  their 
progeny.    W7lhat  will  be  the  nature  of  this  heavenly 
population?    We  can  surmise  it  from  the  condition 
of  their  mothers.     I  have  before  me  a  report  by  a 
pious  Christian,  who  has  just  returned  from  a  tour 
around  the  world,  who  has  visited  the  most  dif- 


256  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

ferent  nations,  who  has  everywhere  studied  woman 
in  her  degradation,  and  who  has  made  some  very 
true  observations  on  the  pernicious  influences  of 
religion,  so  far  as  his  own  religion  was  not  con- 
cerned. From  him  we  hear  how  in  Salt  Lake  City 
"the  resisting  woman  is  made  a  prostitute  in  the 
name  of  God,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost."  She 
is  taught  that  in  Utah,  the  same  as  in  the  Bible,  the 
man  is  her  "Lord  and  Master;"  she  is  shown  from 
examples  in  the  Bible  (Abraham,  Jacob,  David, 
Solomon)  that  her  "lord  and  master"  must  have  as 
many  women  at  his  disposal  as  he  likes;  it  is  im- 
pressed upon  her  that  the  "salvation"  of  her  soul 
depends  on  her  compliance,  commanded  by  God,  so 
that  the  most  beautiful  maiden  will  not  dare  to  re- 
fuse the  most  disgusting  old  fellow,  for  this  would 
<be  a  sin  against  God,  whereby  she  forfeits  her 
eternal  blessedness.  And  how  about  the  unfortun- 
ate victims  of  this  holy  prostitution?  "There  is," 
says  the  reporter,  "no  religious  doctrine  too  sense- 
less for  men  to  believe.  Is  it  possible  for  ignorance, 
for  fanaticism,  for  superstition  to  change  sensual 
vulgarity  into  virtue,  in  the  name  of  religion?  Do 
you  ask  whether  these  women  of  Salt  Lake  City 
believe  in  polygamy?  I  answer,  Yes.  They  believe 
that  Brigiham  Young  is  the  servant  of  God,  that  his 
revelations  come  from  God.  They  are  serious  and 
sincere  in  their  belief.  Do  you  ask  whether  they 
like  polygamy?  I  answer,  No.  They  accept  it  as 
a  religious  sacrifice.    It  is  the  will  of  God.    They 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  257 

•honor  Him  by  obeying,  they  secure  their  own  salva- 
tion, and  at  the  same  time  eternal  blessedness  for  un- 
born souls,  who  are  waiting  for  an  earthly  dwelling. 
I  venture  to  assert  that  in  all  Utah  there  is  not  a 
single  happy  -woman  united  to  a  man  who  has  more 
than  one  wife.  Polygamy  is  contrary  to  nature. 
You  can  read  nature's  protest  in  the  sad,  careworn 
face  of  every  woman  whom  you  meet." 

Such  are  Christian  conditions,  religious  condi- 
tions resulting  from  a  belief  in  the  Bible.  Christians, 
that  is,  those  who  consider  themselves  true  Chris- 
tians, curse  them,  but  'with  what  right?  Who  has 
given. these  believers  in  the  Bible  a  monopoly  on 
their  interpretation?  Is  not  every  vice,  every  most 
hideous  act,  every  crime,  that  claims  to  have  relig- 
ion, the  Bible,  God  on  its  side,  justified?  And  since 
the  weakest  are  always  the  first  target  and  the  first 
victims  of  every  vice,  every  hideous  act,  every  crime, 
it  is  but  natural  that  woman  should  be  the  first  to 
experience  most  thoroughly  the  benefactions  of  re- 
ligion. But  Mormonism,  this  masterpiece  of  sys- 
tematized hypocrisy  for  the  satisfaction  of  animal 
lust  at  the  expense  of  degraded  womanhood,  teaches 
still  more  plainly  than  its  mother,  "legitimate"  Chris- 
tianity, how  religion  can  even  serve  as  a  means  for 
making  crimes,  committed  in  its  name,  appear  like 
the  greatest  boon  to  those  against  whom  they  are 
perpetrated;  so  that  in  the  name  of  "God,"  the 
patron  of  every  imaginable  barbarity,  and  horror, 
they  aillow  themselves  to  be  not  only  defrauded  of 


258  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

their  lives,  but  to  regard  this  as  their  highest  des- 
tiny! 

It  would  be  easier  for  me  to  understand  a  woman 
who  considered  suicide  as  her  destiny,  than  one  who, 
claiming  human  rights  for  herself,  could  still  feel 
some  enthusiasm  for  religion. 

The  resolutions  also  met  with  some  opposition. 
Johanna  Fuchs  of  Buffalo  took  exception  to  the 
sixth  resolution,  so  far  as  it  demanded  communism 
of  property  between  married  people.  She  feared 
"that  such  an  arrangement  would  lead  to  the  greatest 
abuse,  and  was  more  likely  to  create  false  marriages 
than  to  preserve  the  true  ones.  Would  not  every 
girl  of  means  run  the  risk  of  having  her  property 
squandered  by  the  man  who  knew  how  to  gain 
her  affections,  and  who  really  cared  only  for  her 
money?  What  protection  has  she  if  she  is  no  longer 
to  possess  and  administrate  her  property  in  her  own 
name?  And  would  not,  on  the  other  hand,  many  a 
shrewd  woman  try  to  insinuate  herself  into  the  affec- 
tions of  a  rich  man,  then  wilfully  provoke  a  ground 
for  divorce,  in  order  to  walk  off  with  one-half  of 
his  property?  It  seems  to  me  that  if  property  is  to 
be  held  in  common,  divorce  should  not  depend 
merely  on  the  will  of  the  united  couple;  but  if  di- 
vorce is  to  be  free  the  property  ought  to  belong  to 
the  one  who  brought  it  into  the  union.  Such  as 
the  world  is,  I  cannot  expect  any  good  to  come  from 
the  arrangement  as  recommended." 

JULIE  VOM  BERG— The  objections  that  have 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  259 

been  raised  seem  to  be  justified  if  we  consider  merely 
the  present  conditions  of  society.  But  we  must  re- 
member above  all  things  that  our  point  of  departure 
is  an  assumption  of  better  conditions,  which  we  our- 
selves will  help  to  create.  Just  as  the  exercise  of 
suffrage,  which  we  demand,  and  the  equality  of  the 
sexes  for  which  we  strive,  can  only  be  expected  in 
a  future  which  is  more  susceptible  to  such  reforms 
than  the  present,  so  in  the  conception  of  a  reformed 
institution  of  marriage,  we  must  count  upon  future 
conditions  in  which  the  obstructive  elements  of  the 
present  are  at  least  partially  removed.  When  we 
imagine  the  marriage  relation  of  the  future,  as  we 
desire  it,  we  also  assume,  for  example,  that  the 
women  of  the  future  have  received  a  more  adequate 
education,  that  they  will  be  better  able  to  secure 
their  own  existence,  that  their  economic  dependence 
on  men  ceases  in  part,  and  that  they  are  to  that  ex- 
tent less  tempted  to  marry  from  necessity  and  specu- 
lation instead  of  from  love.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
must  expect  that  in  the  same  proportion  as  women 
gain  in  independence  and  influence,  men  will  change 
their  habits,  and  ennoble  their  sentiments,  whose 
present  vulgarity  and  baseness  find  their  chief  nour- 
ishment in  the  existing  helplessness  and  degradation 
of  woman.  We  must  here,  above  all  things,  remem- 
ber that  this  is  a  question  of  principle,  which  can- 
not be  modified,  or  condemned  to  silence,  out  of 
consideration  of  existing  conditions.  What  do  equal 
rights  demand?    And  what  does  a  true  conception 


260  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

of  marriage  demand?  These  alone  are  the  questions 
we  must  answer.  There  is  not  an  uncorrupted 
woman  in  the  world,  who,  in  considering  all  her 
wishes,  with  regard  to  marriage,  would  ask  anything 
else  than  to  be  united  to  a  man  to  whom  she  may  be 
devoted  in  love  for  her  whole  life.  Now  may  each 
one  ask  herself  how  she  can  harmonize  the  thought 
of  such  unity  of  feeling,  of  devotion  and  of  exist- 
ence, with  the  precautions  of  securing  the  dollar, 
inherited,  or  obtained  by  some  other  favorable  cir- 
cumstance, against  the  beloved  man,  in  whom  she 
trusts  as  in  herself,  and  with  whom  she  would  share 
everything  that  is  her  own!  How  does  the  calcu- 
lating spirit  of  the  merchant  or  the  lawyer,  that 
keeps  strict  account  over  his  dollars  and  her  dollars, 
agree  with  the  relationship  of  two  lovers,  who  lead 
a  common  life,  and  see  themselves  rejuvenated  in 
their  children?  Frightful  discord!  Disgusting  con- 
tradiction! What!  am  I  to  entrust  and  devote  my 
person,  my  whole  life  and  being  to  a  man,  but  guard 
my  purse  against  him  by  law  and  the  police?  Do 
I  not  thereby  declare  my  purse  more  valuable  than 
my  person?  And  is  the  man  to  see  in  this  anxiety 
about  the  dollar  a  proof  of  his  wife's  confidence  in 
him?  Is  it  not  as  though  she  were  saying  to  him: 
I  love  you  infinitely,  but  I  take  you  for  a  thief  and 
a  sharper  who  wishes  to  rob  me  of  my  money?  How 
a  man  can  debase  himself  to  "marry"  such  a  woman, 
who  at  the  outset  meets  him  with  the  most  sordid 
distrust  by  locking  up  her  money  from  him,  I  can 


ANh  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.         261 

comprehend  as  little  as  that  such  a  woman  can  really 
expect  her  love  to  be  considered  genuine.  For  it  is 
a  condition  of  true  love  that  each  side  finds  his  or 
her  happiness  in  turning  over  to  the  other  every 
desirable  thing  over  which  he  or  she  has  any  power. 
A  financial  barrier  must  necessarily  also  create  or 
indicate  a  moral  barrier,  a  barrier  between  the  feel- 
ings, and  it  does  not  seem  to  me  that  any  marriage 
can  be  a  happy  one  in  which  a  separation  of  the 
property  indicates  a  life  apart,  or,  in  making  the  one 
dependent  on  the  other,  subordinates  one  to  the 
other.  If  a  millionaire  offers  you  his  hand  without 
at  the  same  time  offering  his  millions,  then  reject 
him  or  demand  of  him  that  he  throw  his  millions  out 
of  the  window  for  your  sake.  He  who  does  not 
want  to  marry  without  securing  his  property  from 
his  chosen  life-companion  will  act  more  wisely  and 
more  worthily  if  he  continues  to  hve  without  a  com- 
panion. 

There  is  a  custom  which  prevails  in  America,  more 
than  elsewhere,  according  to  which  a  woman  upon 
marrying  secures  her  property,  if  she  has  any,  for 
her  own  person.  In  giving  her  one  hand  to  the 
man,  she  points  with  the  other  to  her  strong-box 
upon  which  is  written :  Hands  off!  Very  romantic, 
and  most  promising  of  future  happiness!  But  the 
husband  finds  this  as  unobjectionable  as  the  wife, 
because  both  of  them  have  no  conception  of  true 
love  and  marriage.  Take,  says  she  or  he,  my  hand, 
take  my  liberty,  take  my  person,  take  my  heart  — 


262  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

as  much  as  there  is  of  it  —  but,  dearest  creature, 
leave  me  my  money!  And  thus  they  enter  into  the 
business  of  "loving"  each  other.  Think  of  Abelard 
and  Heloise  with  a  lawyer  or  notary  between  them 
guarding  their  separate  accounts.  To  be  sure, 
Abelard  and  Heloise  did  not  live  in  America.  In 
this  country  of  calculators  and  money-makers, 
where  the  number  of  dollars  constitutes  the  "worth" 
of  a  person,  one  can  sacrifice  the  person  and  keep 
the  worth,  if  one  keeps  the  money.  I  do  not  venture 
a  conjecture  as  to  how  many  true  marriages  there 
are  here;  but  they  are  surely  not  to  be  found  where 
man  and  wife  keep  separate  accounts. 

If,  however,  in  objection  to  the  proposed  resolu- 
tion, and  in  consideration  of  present  conditions,  the 
anxiety  is  expressed  that  the  female  sex  will  be 
placed  at  a  disadvantage  should  the  resolution  be 
put  into  practice,  I  am  of  an  entirely  different  opin- 
ion. If  we  consider  that  the  majority  of  women  are 
still  economically  dependent  upon  men  and  will  re- 
main so  for  some  time  to  come,  and  that,  as  a  rule, 
the  men  provide  the  means  of  existence,  it  follows 
that  an  arrangement  which  in  marriage  makes  the 
property  of  both  common,  and  in  case  of  divorce 
divides  it  into  equal  parts,  must  in  general  result  to 
the  advantage  of  woman.  The  resolution,  therefore, 
offers  a  security  to  the  weaker  party.  This  security 
may  go  'even  further,  for  since  the  husbands,  having 
complete  control  of  everything,  are  generally  the 
ones  who  furnish  the  occasion  for  a  divorce,  the 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIOKS.          263 

temptation  and  opportunity  for  it  will  consequently 
be  lessened  if  women  have  a  word  to  say  with  regard 
to  the  disposal  and  administration  of  the  property. 

For  all  these  reasons  I  repeat  the  motion  to  adopt 
the  resolutions  in  toto. 

At  these  words  a  respectable-looking  man  arose, 
gave  his  name  as  Backfuss  from  New  York,  and 
asked  for  the  floor.  He  had  polished  manners,  but 
his  physiognomy  was  most  commonplace.  On  close 
observation  one  could  see  that  his  right  eye  was  an 
immovable  glass  ball. 

"If  men  are  permitted,"  said  Mr.  Backfuss,  "to 
join  in  the  discussion,  I  will  take  the  liberty  to  call 
your  attention  to  one  important  point,  which  has 
not  yet  found  expression  in  this  meeting.  I  am 
of  the  opinion  that  it  is  an  insurmountable  obstacle 
to  the  emancipation  of  woman.  You  demand,  ladies, 
complete  equality  of  rights  with  men  in  the  state  and 
society.  You  claim  that  a  difference  of  sex  can  be 
no  objection.  Well,  I  will  concede  everything  if  you 
are  able  to  disprove  a  saying  which  has  been  con- 
sidered true  as  long  as  the  world  stands,  and  will 
have  to  hold  for  all  time  if  human  society  is  not  to 
collapse.  Do  you  know  what  this  saying  is?  I 
will  tell  you.  It  is:  Equal  rights  call  for  equal 
duties!  If  you  lay  claim  upon  everything  which 
men  possess,  you  must  also  accomplish  everything 
that  we  men  accomplish.  What  do  we  men  accom- 
plish? Our  most  important  and  highest  achievement 
is  that  we  risk  our  lives  for  our  country,  that  we  take 


264  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

up  weapons  and  go  out  upon  the  field  of  battle,  that 
we  shed  our  blood,  and  in  the  thunder  of  cannons 
defend  our  country,  and  our  institutions,  and  you 
also,  honored  ladies,  against  the  common  enemy. 
Now  I  ask:  Do  you  do  that,  too?  Can  you  do  it? 
No,  forever  no.  Our  highest  duty  you  cannot  fulfill, 
consequently  you  cannot  lay  claim  to  our  highest 
right.  I  say  that  without  wishing  to  offend  you,  for 
you  have  so  many  other  rights,  and  such  a  beautiful 
vocation  in  your  sphere " 

(Voices  from  all  sides:  "Nothing  about  the 
sphere !  We  alone  know  about  that."  Mr.  Backfuss 
sits  down.) 

JULIE  VOM  BERG— I  know  a  great  many  men 
Who  do  not  go  to  war,  although  they  are  able  to  go. 
And  I  know  many  others  who  cannot  go  on  account 
of  some  infirmity  or  other  hindrance.  But  I  do  not 
know  a  single  one  who  has  forfeited  his  rights,  be- 
cause he  did  not  allow  himself  to  be  made  into  an 
instrument  of  murder  on  the  drill  ground,  or  has  not 
taken  part  in  a  mass-murder,  in  the  thunder  of  can- 
nons. Upon  what  do  those,  who  are  exempted, 
found  their  privileges  as  against  us?  On  the  other 
hand,  I  know  thousands  of  women,  who  during  the 
war  have  saved  the  lives  of  thousands  of  men,  or 
relieved  their  suffering  with  tender  care,  providing 
all  those  things  which  their  condition  needed,  but 
would  never  have  found  without  the  sympathy  of 
women.  In  this  manner  women  also  have  fulfilled 
duties  during  the  war,  which  are  surely  equal  to 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  265 

those  df  the  men,  especially  if  we  also  take. account 
of  the  suffering  and  the  sacrifices  to  which  they 
were  exposed  through  the  loss  of  their  husbands  and 
sons.  Thus  the  distinction  men  win  for  themselves 
as  murderers  is  transmuted  into  a  distinction  for 
women  as  sufferers.  Would  it  not  be  humane  logic 
to  deduce  from  this  distinction  of  women  a  right  to 
assist  in  doing  away  with  this  murdering  for  which 
men  claim  so  much  credit,  by  the  participation  of 
women  in  public  life?  Do  these  barbarians  really 
consider  it  their  destiny  to  shed  as  much  blood  in 
the  future  as  they  have  shed  in  the  past?  Is  this, 
then,  and  will  it  always  be  their  "sphere?"  Is  it  to 
remain  man's  highest  estate  to  achieve  that  for 
which  beasts  of  the  desert,  the  tiger  and  the  hyena 
could  serve  as  models?  This  martial  infatuation  and 
bluster,  continued  even  to  the  present  day,  proves 
more  than  anything  else  to  what  extent  the  animal 
and  savage  nature  still  prevails  in  man,  and  how 
much  barbaric  admixture,  all  his  culture  notwith- 
standing, he  must  still  eliminate  from  his  mode  of 
thought,  before  he  is  truly  humane.  His  right  — 
the  strength  of  bones;  his  fame  —  bloodshed  —  thus 
it  was  in  primordial  times,  when  he  devoured  his 
slain  opponent,,  and  thus  it  is  even  to-day,  when  he 
buries  him  "decently."  In  Europe,  the  cradle  of 
universal  culture,  that  man  stands  highest  even  to- 
day, who  has  the  greatest  number  of  victims  on  his 
list  of  murdered ;  and  in  America,  the  model  repub- 
lic elects  a  man  to  the  Presidency,  who  could  sail 


266  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

into  the  White  House  on  a  ship  of  war,  if  all  the 
blood  which  he  has  shed,  and  shed  for  the  most 
part  unnecessarily,  could  be  collected  in  Washing- 
ton. Had  he  saved  his  country,  as  they  call  it,  by  a 
great  thought,  or  any  other  peaceful  deed  of  the 
intellect,  he  would  probably  be  neglected  or  for- 
gotten; but  because  he  reeks  with  blood,  because 
blood  marks  his  path,  and  blood  surges  about  his 
seat,  it  is  that  which  gives  him  the  true  color  to 
suit  the  taste  of  this  barbaric  masculine  world,  and 
to  secure  for  him  precedence  above  all  other  un- 
bloody greatness. 

If  murder  and  bloodshed  are  thus  still  to  mark 
the  path  of  man's  aspirations  and  glory,  would  we 
women  not  be  justified  in  considering  ourselves  as 
the  only  true  human  beings?  And  yet  our  claims 
to  human  rights  are  to  'be  measured  according  to  our 
ability  to  participate  in  the  deeds  of  inhuman  beings  ? 
Would  the  gentleman,  who  has  just  enlightened  us 
concerning  the  duties  of  citizens,  consider  our  claims 
to  the  rights  of  citizens  as  better  grounded,  if  we 
possessed  the  proper  qualifications  for  the  amazons 
of  the  dictator  Lopez,  or  the  king  of  Dahomey?  If 
we  women  were  as  intent  upon  handling  murderous 
weapons,  and  shedding  blood,  as  men  are,  and  could, 
therefore,  perform  their  vaunted  "duties"  as  their 
equals,  it  seems  to  me  the  "lords  of  creation"  would 
long  for  nothing  more  ardently  than  to  see  us  once 
more  transformed  into  unarmed  and  unbloody  be- 
ings.    They  would  most  willingly   con-cede  to  us 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  267 

every  right,  yea,  every  privilege,  and  even  force  it 
upon  us,  to  escape  the  danger  of  having  the  relation- 
ship reversed  and  of  having  masculine  right  dealt 
out  to  them  by  the  feminine  sword." 

AGNES  KOEHLER— I  beg  pardon,  but  has  the 
gentleman  who  reminded  us  of  the  military  duty, 
been  in  the  war  himself? 

BACKFUSS — Certainly,  I  have  been  through 
the  entire  campaign  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac. 

A.  KOEHLER— Were  you  also  in  the  battle? 

BACKFUSS— Not  just  in  it.  But  I  filled  my 
position. 

A.  KOEHLER— What  position  did  you  hold? 
Were  you  a  soldier  or  an  officer? 

BACKFUSS— Neither  of  the  two.  The  loss  of 
the  right  eye  by  a  stone  disabled  me  for  service. 

A.  KOEHLER — Ah,  no  warrior,  no  thunderer  of 
cannons  then !  And  yet  you  retained  your  political 
rights?  And  yet  you  enlighten  us  as  to  our  in- 
capacity for  equal  rights  because  we  are  unfitted 
for  war?  But  what  position  did  you  hold  in  the 
army?  Perhaps  my  brother  knows  you,  who  was 
there  also. 

BACKFUSS— Well,  I  was  a  sutler. 

(General  merriment.) 

MARGARETHE  NIEVENHEIM— The  sister 
of  my  washerwoman,  whose  husband  was  a  corporal 
in  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  accompanied  him  fear- 
lessly and  faithfully,  and  went  through  the  entire 
campaign,  likewise  in  the  capacity  of  —  sutler.     I 


268  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

hope  you  will  at  least  accept  this  woman  as  a  col- 
league, with  equal  rights,  especially  since  she  never 
sold  adulterated  drinks,  and  was  very  moderate  in 
her  prices. 

(Mr.  Backfuss  rises.) 

A.  KOEHLER — Beg  pardon,  but  are  you  not 
now  an  "editor?" 

BACKFUSS — I  have  an  engagement  with  a 
paper  in  New  York. 

(Leaves  the  hall.) 

A.  KOEHLER— Then  he  will  change  from  a 
sutler  into  a  muddler.    • 

After  Mr.  Backfuss  had  withdrawn,  another  op- 
ponent succeeded  him,  a  gentleman  with  the  face  of 
a  fox,  whose  diplomatic  self-complacent  air  be- 
trayed the  consciousness  of  his  ability  to  greatly 
embarrass  the  ladies.  He  was  a  politician  and  editor 
from  the  West,  who  considered  himself  a  great 
statesman,  and  his  name  was  Schuerze. 

MR.  SCHUERZE — Ladies,  I  have  followed  your 
discussions  with  great  interest,  but  do  not  presume 
to  be  able  to  give  an  opinion  on  the  questions  which 
are  brought  up  here.  The  right  of  women  is  for 
you  the  chief,  yes,  the  exclusive  question,  and  you 
undertake  to  solve  it  at  once.  It  seems  to  me  that 
another  question  ought  to  be  solved  first,  upon 
which  the  entire  significance  of  this  one  depends. 
The  question  of  woman's  rights,  as  many  another 
question,  belongs  to  the  realm  of  theory.  Theoret- 
ical questions  in  themselves  have  no  meaning  in 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIOJSTS.  269 

politics.  They  have  meaning  and  significance  only 
when  they  represent  a  power  in  practical  life  which 
is  strong  enough  to  uphold  and  execute  them.  Poli- 
tics reckons  with  powers  and  num'bers.  Assuming 
that  your  resolutions  had  found  favor  before  all  the 
world,  as  theoretical  principles,  but  not  a  person 
besides  yourselves  could  be  found  to  give  them  sup- 
port in  practical  politics,  or  to  attempt  to  make  them 
law,  would  they  then  be  anything  more  than  mere 
phrases?  They  would  have  to  be  considered  as  non- 
existent. It  is  clear,  then,  that  the  standard  which 
the  practical  statesman  must  apply  to  a  question 
is  that  of  the  power  and  support  at  its  disposal.  If 
it  has  no  party  it  can  receive  no  attention.  The 
interest  in  it  grows  with  its  party.  But  where  is  the 
party  to  back  your  demands?  I  see  a  number  of 
ladies  assembled  here,  who  individually,  or  as  a 
debating  society,  can  call  out  the  greatest  interest. 
But  measured  by  the  party  standard  which  politics 
must  apply,  this  society  will  be  of  no  importance, 
even  if  its  theories  were  entirely  correct.  How  many 
voters  are  ready  to  adopt  these  theories  and  support 
them  at  the  polls?  This  is  the  main  question.  But 
even  this  is  preceded  'by  another:  How  many 
women  are  there  back  of  your  theories  and  demands? 
Suppose,  now,  that  you  stood  all  alone.  Will  any 
practical  statesman  wish  and  be  able  to  work  for 
woman's  rights,  if  the  majority  of  women  them- 
selves do  not  demand  them,  and  thus  declare  them- 
selves against  them?    Could  we  let  the  majority  of 


270  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

women,  especially  of  German  women,  vote  on  this 
so-called  emancipation,  I  am  convinced,  regardless 
of  its  theoretical  correctness  or  incorrectness,  that 
the  majority  -would  vote  against  it,  or  not  at  all. 
"What  sort  of  a  case  have  you  now?  The  majority  of 
men  against  it,  and  the  majority  of  women  not  for 
it.  If  the  contrary  were  the  case,  the  theoretical  side 
of  the  question  would  present  few  difficulties;  but 
under  present  circumstances  a  discussion  of  the 
subject  has  neither  a  definite  aim,  nor  any  chance  of 
success  whatever. 

JULIE  VOM  BERG— If  the  speaker  has  con- 
vinced me  of  anything  it  is  of  the  fact  that  he  is  in- 
deed a  "practical  statesman."  The  principle,  by  him 
called  theory,  has  in  itself  no  significance  for  him; 
power  alone  has  significance.  Where  this  exists, 
there  the  principle,  whose  part  it  takes,  has  value. 
The  principle  is  merely  the  accident  of  power,  and 
might  just  as  well  not  exist  at  all.  A  practical  states- 
man has  no  principle  whatever,  to  begin  with,  and 
does  not  decide  upon  any,  in  order  not  to  compro- 
mise himself;  he  waits  cautiously  until  one  that 
promises  well  for  his  position  has  sufficient  adherents, 
that  is  a  party  strong  enough  to  insure  victory.  Then 
the  practical  statesman  takes  its  side,  conducts  him- 
self as  its  enthusiastic  champion,  and  reaps  all  the 
advantages  of  the  victory,  which  his  cunning  and 
daring  manages  to  appropriate  for  himself,  without 
having  incurred  the  least  risk  in  the  struggle.  He 
merely  waits  until  a  question  of  progress  has  become 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  271 

mature,  and  strong,  through  the  exertion  of  others, 
then  he  attaches  himself  to  it  and  becomes  its  spokes- 
man, thus  securing  not  only  his  reputation  as  a 
liberal  man,  who  belongs  to  the  advance  guard 
everywhere,  where  the  struggle  is  for  liberty  and 
development,  but  also  as  a  far-sighted  politician, 
whose  championship  is  always  coupled  with  success. 
Whoever  is  sly  enough  in  his  operations  to  keep 
away  from  a  struggle  so  long  as  a  superior  enemy 
makes  the  outcome  doubtful,  but  who  later,  when 
the  downfall  of  this  enemy  can  be  foreseen,  takes 
his  place  in  the  ranks  of  the  aggressors  with  eclat, 
he  certainly  adopts  the  most  practical  way  to  share 
in  the  glory  of  the  victory,  without  having  assisted 
in  the  struggle.  Remember  the  spectacle  that  pre- 
sented itself  in  the  development  of  the  slave  ques- 
tion. The  abolition  of  slavery  was  in  the  beginning 
agitated  only  by  "impractical"  albolitionists,  who 
were  forever  "harping"  on  their  "theory,"  were 
hated  by  all  true  "patriots,"  and  despised  or  ridi- 
culed by  all  "practical  statesmen."  '  In  spite  of  these 
animosities  the  abolitionists  did  not  relinquish  their 
efforts,  and  when  they  alone  could  not  gain  a  hear- 
ing, the  natural  course  of  events  brought  the  slave- 
holder, cuddled  and  reared  by  the  practical  states- 
man, to  their  aid,  and  opened  the  ears  of  these  prac- 
tical statesmen  very  practically;  that  is,  unmisak- 
ably.  What  happened?  During  the  exciting  stress 
of  this  reaction,  the  enemies  of  slavery  increased  a 
millionfold,  and  grew  to  a  party  whose  victory  had 


272  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

become  as  'much  of  a  certainty  as  of  a  necessity. 
What  did  the  "practical  statesmen"  do  now?  Did 
they  continue  to  ridicule  the  abolitionists?  They, 
who  from  cowardice  and  want  of  principle,  had 
but  a  short  time  ago  attempted  to  withdraw  the  slave 
question  from  all  contention,  as  an  inviolable  sanc- 
tuary; they,  who.  had  boasted  of  "not  being  aboli- 
tionists, not  even  in  silence,"  now  suddenly  became, 
of  necessity,  the  leaders  of  the  combat;  they  took 
possession  of  abolitionism,  as  though  they  alone  had 
worked  for  it  from  childhood  up,  and  now  boast  of 
themselves  as  champions  of  liberty,  in  order  to  reap 
the  reward  of  their  achievements. 

I  am  not  afraid  of  being  a  false  prophet,  if  I  pre- 
dict that  the  question  of  woman's  rights  will  run  the 
same  course  that  the  question  of  negro  rights  took. 
Our  victory  is  to  us  as  certain  as  the  victory  of  the 
enemies  of  slavery  has  been  to  the  abolitionists.  But 
when  shall  it  be  consummated?  Can  we  assign  the 
day  in  the  calender?  Can  we  determine  the  time 
according  to  month,  week,  and  day?  Think  of  the 
dreadful  possibility  of  having  to  fight  five,  ten,  twenty 
years  longer  for  the  recognition  and  accomplishment 
of  our  rights!  A  man  of  principle,  a  friend  o<f  jus- 
tice, a  warrior  of  liberty,  and  advocate  of  truth,  a 
promoter  of  humanity,  who  takes  his  cause  seriously 
for  the  sake  of  the  cause,  does  not  reckon  by  days, 
months  and  years.  He  has  patience,  and  persever- 
ance, and  finds  his  reward  in  striving  for  a  noble 
end,  and  hoping  for  its  final  attainment.     But  is  it 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  273 

not  unreasonable,  yes,  cruel,  to  torture  a  so-called 
politician,  or  practical  statesman,  on  the  rack  of  such 
waiting?  Remember  that  he  has  no  principle;  how 
can  he  be  expected  to  strike  and  wait  for  it?  Re- 
member that  he  must  live  by  success,  how  then  can 
he  be  expected  to  join  a  party  whose  success  seems 
still  so  doubtful,  even  in  a  remote  distance?  Remem- 
ber that  the  poor  wretch  cries  for  an  "office,"  that  he 
wants  to  become  Governor,  Ambassador,  Senator, 
how  can  he  be  expected  to  entrust  his  destiny  to  the 
future  of  a  society  that  has  as  yet  no  "office"  at  its 
disposal,  except  perhaps  the  position  of  President 
or  Secretary  of  a  woman's  convention?  No,  let  us 
not  be  crue'l,  above  all  things!  But  I  know  of  no 
greater  cruelty  than  to  expect  a  "practical  states- 
man" to  risk  his  "office"  in  a  ruling  party,  and  his 
reputation,  £s  a  successful  man,  by  identifying  him- 
self with  a  principle  that  has  still  to  win  a  party  and 
to  create  a  power.  Let  us  be  fair,  let  us  judge 
mildly,  and  show  forbearance.  We,  too,  shall  some- 
time have  the  practical  statesman  on  our  side, 
namely,  at  a  time  when  we  shall  no  longer  need  their 
help.  At  that  time  not  only  all  meeting  halls,  but 
also  the  halls  of  the  capitol  will  resound  with 
"woman's  rights,"  and  among  those  who  will  con- 
gratulate us,  on  our  victory  and  who,  of  course,  will 
have  the  highest  honor  of  it,  the  "practical  states- 
men," will  be  the  most  chivalrous  and  debonair. 
Will  we  be  grateful?  Will  we  be  generous?  Will  we 
distribute  the  "offices"  only  among  the  "theorizers?" 


274  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

I  for  my  part  vote  for  extreme  liberality,  and  even 
Mr.  Schuerze  will  not  'be  forgotten,  if  he  will  answer 
me  one  question  definitely  and  unequivocally.  It  is 
not  the  following  question:  If  all  men  were  "prac- 
tical statesmen"  who  became  interested  in  a  right 
only  after  it  had  become  a  power  sure  of  victory, 
could  an  unrecognized  right  then  ever  come  up  for 
discussion,  and  would  progress  ever  be  possible? 
Neither  is  it  the  following:  Are  not  the  radical 
friends  of  reform,  who  are  the  first  to  agitate  for 
universal  rights  and  better  institutions,  trusting 
that  whatever  is  correct  in  principle  must  and  will 
find  its  way  into  practice,  more  practical  and  far- 
sighted  statesmen  than  the  calculating  business  and 
state  "politicians"  of  the  moment,  who  take  advan- 
tage of  progress  only  when  it  is  already  in  full  swing, 
in  spite  of  them?  Nor  the  following:  Were  the 
majority  of  the  slaves,  a  few  years  ago,  in  favor  of 
the  abolition  of  slavery?  Was  this  abolition  un- 
timely or  unjust,  because  not  the  slaves  themselves 
but  the  free  people  demanded  it?  And  is  not  op- 
pression everywhere  detrimental  to  those  that  exe- 
cute it  as  well  as  to  those  who  suffer  from  it?  Is  not 
the  recognition  and  security  of  rights  a  beneficence 
and  a  duty  even  where  no  one  expressly  claims 
them?  I  will  excuse  the  practical  statesman  from 
answering  all  these,  and  other  questions  —  I  only 
wish  to  address  one  personal  question  to  him. 

SCHUERZE— And  that  is  ? 

JULIE  VOM  BERG— Are  you  in  principle,  or  as 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  275 

you  say,  theory,  for  granting  absolute  equality  of 
rights  to  the  female  sex?    Yes  or  no. 

SCHUERZE— I  hold  that  the  entire  female  sex 
has  absolutely  equal  rights. 

JULIE  VOM  BERG— I  see.  You  mean  to  say 
that  one  woman  has  as  many,  that  is  as  few,  rights 
as  the  other.  I  shall  now  vote  that  Mr.  Schuerze  is 
not  to  have  any  "office." 

Mr.  Schuerze  departs  amid  general  merriment. 

Not  discouraged  by  this  failure,  another  opponent 
appears.  It  is  a  man  with  very  little  forehead,  but 
much  beard,  and  a  powerful  voice.  He  gives  his 
name  as  Gerstaeker.  Several  questions  from  the 
meeting:  "Are  you  the  traveler  and  writer,  Ger- 
staeker?" 

GERSTAEKER — I  am  his  namesake  and  like- 
wise a  traveler,  but  I  travel  for  a  wine-house.  But 
that  makes  no  difference.  I  only  wanted  to  say 
something  that  my  namesake  has  said.  He  said  it 
in  the  "Gartenlaube,"  with  which  you  are  probably 
acquainted;  it  is  the  most  distinguished  and  bright- 
est paper  in  our  German  fatherland.  My  name- 
sake is  of  the  opinion  that  the  emancipation  of 
woman  is  against  her  own  interests.  For,  he  says, 
so  long  as  she  is  not  emancipated,  that  is,  not  on  a 
footing  of  equality  with  man,  he  will  protect  her; 
she  is  for  him  the  weaker  sex,  over  whom  he  must 
watch,  and  for  whom  he  must  show  tender  consid- 
eration. But  when  she  is  made  'his  equal,  he  will 
treat  her  as  his  equal,  and  will  abandon  all  indul- 


276  THE  BIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

gence,  compassion  and  consideration  that  we  owe  to 
the  weaker  part.  My  namesake  proves  this  by  a 
striking  example.  He  relates  how  a  young  lady 
entered  an  American  street  car,  but  found  all  seats 
occupied.  A  gentleman  jumped  up  to  offer  her  his 
place,  but  at  the  same  time  asked  her  the  question 
whether  she  was  in  favor  of  woman's  emancipation. 
When  she  answered  in  the  affirmative,  he  resumed 
his  seat,  saying:  "If  you  want  to  be  the  equal  of 
man  I  may  also  treat  you  as  a  man."  You  see,  that 
is  what  you  would  have  to  expect,  if  your  resolutions 
were  to  become  law. 

JULIE  VOM  BERG— The  prospects  that  the 
namesake  of  Mr.  Gerstaeker  lays  before  us  are  at 
least  better  than  those  of  the  young  lady  in  the 
street  car.  We  may  at  least  expect  to  have  a  seat 
vacated  for  us  by  chivalrous  gentlemen,  so  long  as 
our  resolutions  have  not  become  law;  that  is,  so 
long  as  our  equality  has  not  become  a  fact,  while 
the  unfortunate  young  lady  was  condemned  to 
stand,  because  she  only  desired  the  equality,  only 
expected  it  "theoretically"  as  the  "practical  states- 
man" puts  it.  But  I  think  we  had  better  stick  to  our 
rights,  even  at  the  risk  of  going  without  all  mascu- 
line chivalry  at  this  early  date.  Later  on,  when  we 
take  part  in  the  law-making,  we  Shall  see  to  it  that 
the  street  car  companies  no  longer  will  let  anybody 
stand,  but  will  furnish  a  seat  for  his  or  her  money 
to  every  passenger.  In  this  as  well  as  in  other  cases 
we  shall  inaugurate  the  reforms  which    the    prac- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  277 

tical  statesman  as  well  as  the  chivalrous  gentlemen 
have  forgotten  or  neglected.  For  the  present  let 
us  examine  the  chivalry  and  the  tender  considera- 
tions, the  secret  of  which  Mr.  Gerstaeker  has  so 
naively  disclosed  to  us.  He  makes  the  observance 
of  these  considerations  toward  the  weaker  sex  de- 
pendent on  its  disqualification.  He  offers  us  chiv- 
alry as  a  reward  for  the  renunciation  of  our  rights. 
As  slaves  we  may  hope  to  sit  down  in  the  street  car; 
as  free  individuals  we  must  stand.  So  long  as  I 
cannot  vote  my  legs  are  too  weak  to  carry  me;  as 
soon  as  I  have  the  suffrage  they  suddenly  grow 
strong.  To  subordinate  one's  rights  to  the  rights 
of  men  is  a  service  that  must  be  rewarded  with 
chivalrous  attentions;  to  be  his  equal  in  rights  is 
an  offense  that  must  be  punished  by  rudeness.  You 
see,  this  is  the  correct  interpretation  of  Gerstaekerian 
chivalry.  He  also  might  have  expressed  himself 
thus :  So  long  as  you  women  are  satisfied  to  be  our 
disqualified  servants,  we  are  the  chivalrous  be- 
stowers  of  compliments;  but  as  soon  as  you  demand 
and  receive  rights,  we  become  brutal  churls.  Mr. 
Gerstaeker,  I  mean  the  namesake  of  the  wine  mer- 
chant, has  had  much  intercourse  with  savage  men, 
and  beasts,  as  I  see  from  the  accounts  of  his  travels. 
He  also  has  been  a  frequent  guest  at  "courts"  which 
has  the  same  effect.  Can  it  be  that  he  has  learned 
his  chivalry  there?  I  would  quietly  leave  him  to  his 
society  if  I  were  not  compelled  to  also  see  in  him  a 
representative  of  a  great  number  of  men,  who  have 


278  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

not  lived  among  savages  and  courtiers,  but  in  civil- 
ized circles.  May  it  be  made  known  to  these  gentle- 
men that  we  thoroughly  detest  and  abominate  their 
entire  chivalry,  of  which  they  seem  so  proud.  It  is 
nothing  but  a  mask  for  brutality  and  vulgarity.  If 
it  were  a  disinterested  virtue  and  an  outcome  of 
their  humanity,  how  could  they  have  the  barbaric 
arrogance  to  demand  as  its  price,  a  renunciation  of 
human  rights?  And  how  could  they  then,  make  the 
difference  which  we  daily  see  them  make,  accord- 
ing to  circumstances,  and  external  appearances? 
Look,  how  chivalrous  these  knight-errants  are  when 
they  see  a  pretty  face,  and  how  indifferent,  when  a 
plain  unfortunate  woman  appeals  to  their  pity!  At 
the  sight  of  an  affected  society  belle,  they  start  from 
their  seats;  but  the  sick  negress  may  stand  till  she 
drops.  Do  but  become  humane,  and  no  one  will 
demand  or  miss  your  chivalry  any  more.  Then  also 
a  better  lot  will  be  in  store  for  that  numerous  class 
of  unfortunates,  whom  your  anxious  chivalry  has 
consigned  to  misery  and  shame,  although  they  have 
no  rights.  And  here  is  the  true  test  of  your  chiv- 
alry: Those  unfortunates  do  not  offend  your  mas- 
culine superiority  by  the  demand  of  equal  rights  — 
where  then  is  your  tender  consideration  for  the 
weaker  sex?  Here  the  question  is  not  merely  one 
of  a  seat  in  the  street  car;  here  it  is  a  matter  of 
rescuing  thousands  from  degradation  and  despair. 
Where  are  you  now,  chivalrous  gentlemen,  upon 
whose  protection  and  shelter,  considerateness  and 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  279 

aid  the  disfranchised  can  lay  claim?  Would  those 
unfortunates  be  what  they  are  without  your  chivalry? 
And  could  you  have  made  them  what  they  are,  if 
they  were  not  disfranchised?  If,  after  the  schooling 
you  have  given  them,  they  are  still  able  t<y  arouse 
themselves-  to  a  consciousness  of  moral  worth,  they 
will  call  out  to  you :  To  hell  with  your  chivalry,  but 
give  us  our  human  rights,  that  we  can  protect  our- 
selves against  the  dangers  of  want,  and  need  no 
longer  be  the  helpless  victims  of  your  lust! 

By  the  reply  of  Julie  vom  Berg  the  wine  drum- 
mer, Gerstaeker,  was  thrown  into  a  great  state  of 
excitement.  He  arose,  but  for  some  time  could  not 
find  words  for  his  indignation.  At  last  he  called  out 
in  a  stentorian  voice: 

"I  hope  that  the  speaker's  insinuations  were  not 
meant  to  be  personal.  But  I  shall  report  the  affair 
at  once  to  my  illustrious  namesake  that  he  may 
write  it  up  for  the  "Gartenlaube." 

Then  he  rushed  from  the  hall,  upsetting  two  chairs 
in  his  haste.  Upon  one  of  them  sat  the  doctor, 
spiritualist  and  editor,  Bluethe  of  New  York,  in  a 
state  of  deep  reflection,  to  which  philosophy  applies 
the  term  "trance."  Aroused  by  the  violent  shock 
and  fall,  he  sprang  bravely  to  his  feet  and  at  once 
assumed  the  attitude  of  a  speaker. 

DR.  BLUETHE— The  movement  for  the  polit- 
ical equality  of  woman  is  steadily  gaining  ground, 
even  among  the  German  women  of  North  America. 

A  VOICE — More  ground,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  than 
it  has  so  far  gained  among  German  men. 


280  THE  EIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

DR.  BLUETHE— But  "in  itself." 

TWO  VOICES— What  in  itself? 

DR.  BLUETHE — I  mean  the  movement,  no,  the 
thought,  I  was  going  to  say  —  well,  what  did  I 
want? 

THREE  VOICES — You  wanted  something  in 
itself. 

DR.  BLUETHE— Ah,  yes,  in  itself.  I  was 
going  to  say,  namely,  that  "the  aspiring  minds  of 
the  German  adopted  population"  could  inaugurate 
"the  most  profound  and  systematic  opposition"  to 
the  principles  of  the  movement. 

AGNES  KOEHLER— The  aspiring  minds? 
Aspiring  to  what?  To  get  an  "office?"  And  these 
"aspiring  minds,"  to  whom  profound  thinking  as 
well  as  principles  are  a  horror,  are  to  inaugurate  a 
profound  opposition  to  the  principles?  Hitherto 
only  men  of  thought  and  principle  have  fought  on 
our  side  of  the  movement;  they  have  helped  to  start 
it.  I  remind  you,  among  other  things,  of  a  pamph- 
let, from  the  pen  of  the  late  Karl  Heinzen,  whose 
early  death  we  lament,  printed  as  early  as  1849  in 
New  York:  "Concerning  the  Rights  and  Position 
of  Women."  In  this  work  you  will  find  the  woman 
question  treated  comprehensively  and  in  connection 
with  the  entire  evolution  and  revolution  of  society, 
so  that  the  author  can  justly  exclaim  at  the  end: 
"Women  must  enter  the  ranks  of  the  revolution, 
for  the  object  is  the  revolution  of  humanity." 

DR.  BLUETHE— This  work  is  'beneath  all  criti- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  281 

cism,  as  are  also  his  comedies  in  which  he  disparages 
the  German  editors. 

A.  KOEHLER— Have  you  read  it? 

Dr.  BLUETHE— No,  I  have  not,  but  it  stands 
condemned  in  itself. 

A.  KOEHLER— You  seem  to  be  "in  itself"  both 
a  logical  thinker  and  a  just  critic. 

DR.  BLUETHE — I  have  thought  so  myself,  and 
I  am  glad  to  have  it  acknowledged  by  others.  There- 
fore let  me  continue.  The  American  Woman's  Suf- 
frage agitation  arouses  the  well-founded  apprehen- 
sion that  it  may  lead  to  a  resuscitation  of  the  asphyx- 
iated nativist  party,  to  a  new  installment  of  know- 
nothingism,  which  had  seemed  to  be  entirely  van- 
quished. 

The  chief  speakers  show  a  bitter  and  hostile  atti- 
tude toward  the  adopted  element,  especially  that  of 
the  German  tongue,  perhaps  because  they  suspect  or 
know  that  from  this  side  their  agitation  will  receive 
the  least  support,  but  to  some  extent  even  the  most 
profound  and  systematic  opposition  from  principle. 

MRS.  STIEGLER— But  would  they  not  be  justi- 
fied in  that?  If  these  "German  tongues"  can  do 
nothing  but  gulp  down  beer,  saturate  themselves 
with  tobacco  smoke  and  bleat  after  the  party  bell- 
wether; if  they  are  so  coarse  that  they  have  not  a 
word  of  sympathy  for  the  rights  of  the  weaker  half 
of  humanity;  if  they  can  only  hoot  and  hiss  with  the 
rabble  and  even  pass  off  such  vulgarities  as  "most 
profound  opposition,"  then  I  not  only  do  not  take 


282  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

it  ill  of  the  American  women  that  they  feel  bitter 
toward  such  a  valuable  "element,"  but  I  could  my- 
self become  nativistic,  and  at  least  cast  my  vote  in 
favor  of  depriving  such  "thinkers"  of  the  right  of 
suffrage,  that  the  power  of  withholding  it  any 
longer  from  women  may  be  taken  from  them. 

DR.  BLUETHE— "In  itself,"— "in  a  wider 
sense," — "most  profound."— (He  slowly  sinks  back 
upon  his  chair,  closes  his  eyes  and  is  again  in  a 
"trance.") 

A.  KOEHLER— If  he  did  not  have  so  much  of  a 
beard  I  would  take  him  for  a  woman  in  disguise, 
who  has  come  here  to  ridicule  the  men.  He  seems 
to  be  a  "medium."  Does  nobody  here  understand 
spiritualism?    We  ought  to  ask  him  some  questions. 

KAROLINE  WACHENBERG— I  know  him. 
I  have  often  seen  him  in  New  York.  He  is  an  ex- 
cellent "editor"  and  sees  spirits  besides,  although  no 
one  can  see  his.  I  will  examine  him.  In  a  "trance" 
he  imagines  himself  another  person,  and  perhaps 
we  will  hear  some  truth.  For  an  "editor"  speaks 
the  truth  only  when  he  does  not  know  what  he  is 
talking  about. 

How  does  a  man  think? 

DR.  BLUETHE— With  the  stomach. 

K.  WACHENBERG— In  itself  or  for  itself? 

DR.  BLUETHE— In  itself  and  for  itself. 

K.  WACHENBERG— Who  causes  the  stomach 
to  think? 

DR.  BLUETHE— Whoever  fills  it. 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.         283 

K.  WACHENBERG— Who  fills  yours? 

DR.  BLUETHE— The  proprietor  of  the  type. 

K.  WACHENBERG— And  who  fills  his  stom- 
ach? 

DR.  BLUETHE— The  "party"  and  the  public. 

K.  WACHENBERG— Consequently  you  must 
think  just  as  the  party  and  the  public  wants  you  to. 
But  if  you  should  now  think  and  speak  otherwise? 

DR.  BLUETHE — That  is  impossible,  for  my 
stomach  knows  what  to  expect  "if  he  should  be- 
come guilty  of  this  little  mistake." 

K.  WACHENBERG— "In  a  wider  sense?" 

DR.  BLUETHE— In  the  widest  sense. 

K.  WACHENBERG— And  what  do  you  call 
this,  politics  or  philosophy  of  the  stomach? 

DR.  BLUETHE— "Most  profound  and  system- 
atic opposition  from  principle,"  or  the.  "German 
thought  of  the  aspiring  minds  of  the  German  adopt- 
ed population." 

K.  WACHENBERG— But  did  you  not  formerly 
say  that  "reforms,  the  correctness  of  whose  prin- 
ciples could  not  be  contested,  must  not  be  left  to 
time  to  be  inaugurated  from  so-called  considera- 
tions of  expediency?" 

DR.  BLUETHE— That  was  true  in  itself,  and  so 
far  as  one's  bread-giver  agreed  with  it,  but  not  for 
things  antagonistic  to  the  considerations  of  expe- 
diency of  the  stomach. 

K.  WACHENBERG— So  if  at  any  time  you  say 
anything  that  is  true  it  must  be  regarded  as  a  mere 
phrase? 


284  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

DR.  BLUETHE — Everything  is  a  mere  phrase 
in  the  world.  One  cannot  live  by  truth-telling,  and 
even  lying  is  badly  paid  if  it  does  not  sometimes  look 
like  truth.  The  world  is  so  filled  with  lies  that  even 
a  genuine  lie  can  no  longer  be  sold,  unless  it  is 
adulterated  to  a  certain  degree  with  truth. 

K.  WACHENBERG— Are  you  not  as  fully  con- 
vinced of  the  equal  rights  of  women  which  you  com- 
bat in  your  paper,  as  of  the  equal  rights  of  negroes, 
which  you  advocate? 

DR.  BLUETHE— Completely.  But  the  latter 
are  demanded  by  my  party,  my  public,  and  my 
bread-giver,  the  former  not,  and  my  stomach 

A  VOICE — I  begin  to  feel  nausea. 

SEVERAL  VOICES— The  whole  "German 
tongue"  is  beginning  to  be  nauseating. 

MRS.  KALITSCH— So  deeply  fallen  are  these 
lords  of  creation,  and  yet  they  will  not  accept  us  as 
saviors! 

THE  WHOLE  MEETING— Take  the  wretch 
away!    We  cannot  endure  his  presence. 

(The  usher  arouses  him  with  the  call:  "The 
comedies  of  Heinzen!"  whereupon  Dr.  Bluethe 
darts  up,  horror  struck,  and  rushes  out.) 

JULIE  VOM  BERG— What  fruits  can  we  ex- 
pect from  such  "blossoms!"*  And  such  ninnies,  such 
imbeciles,  sudi  caricatures  of  manhood  mount  the 
high  horse,  conduct  themselves  as  an  intellectual 

*The  English  for  Bluethe  is  blossom. 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.         285 

aristocracy,  try  to  clothe  their  pygmy  stature  with 
a  nimbus  of  dark  possibilities,  and  deep  mysteries, 
by  significantly  pointing  to  the  "aims  of  aspiring 
minds"  of  whom  they  are  the  leaders!  Really, 
when  I  see  that  such  celebrities  as  these,  such  abso- 
lute nothings,  in  intellect  and  character,  are  the 
spokesmen  of  our  opponents,  I  feel  ashamed  for  my 
own  sex  because  it  is  still  so  far  from  attaining  its 
rights.  Those  among  them  who  consider  them- 
selves great  "statesmen"  cannot  adduce  any  more 
weighty  reason  against  our  equality  than  this;  that 
but  few  of  us  as  yet  demand  it.  Why,  if  few  of  us 
demand,  and  make  use  of  it,  so  much  less  danger  is 
there  for  the  "statesmen."  Thus  they  confess  that 
from  fear  of  these  few  they  condemn  one-half  of 
humanity,  their  mothers  and  wives  inclusive,  to  be 
without  rights.  A  brilliant  testimony  to  their  wit  as 
well  as  their  courage.  Ah,  gentlemen,  it  is  time 
that  you  protect  yourselves  against  these  imputa- 
tions and  humiliations,  to  which  your  spokesmen 
expose  you,  or  you  will  en  masse  get  a  reputation 
for  brainlessness  and  cowardice! 

Dr.  Bluethe  had  scarcely  been  dismissed  when 
another  opponent  emerged  from  the  background. 
It  could  not  be  ascertained  who  he  was  or  how  he 
called  himself,  although  it  seemed  to  everybody  that 
they  had  already  seen  him,  or  some  one  who  resem- 
bled him.  All  that  was  known  was  that  he  hailed 
from  New  York.  He  was  a  man  of  about  forty 
years  of  age,  but  bald-headed  and  with  a  shriveled 


286  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

face  that,  in  spite  of  its  dull  eyes,  had  a  brazen,  inso- 
lent expression.  If  he  was  not  an  editor,  he  might  at 
least  have  been  one.  In  order  to  give  him  a  name, 
and  a  cosmopolitan  one  at  that,  I  will  call  him  Mr. 
Morality. 

MR.  MORALITY— One  of  your  resolutions  de- 
mands the  free,  unrestrained  contraction  and  disso- 
lution of  marriage.  Is  that  not  merely  another  way 
of  saying  "free  love?"  I  am  astonished  to  see  Ger- 
man women  make  a  demand  whicn  even  among 
American  women  has  called  out  disgust.  What 
would  it  lead  to,  if  it  were  left  to  the  option  of  every 
woman  to  run  away  from  her  husband,  as  soon  as 
he  had  crossed  her  whims,  and  offended  her  sensi- 
bilities in  any  way,  or  as  soon  as  another  one  pleased 
her  better  ?  What  would  become  of  feminine  dignity 
and  virtue  if  our  women  could  rush  into  the  arms 
of  another  man  every  day?  Indeed,  what  would 
become  of  marriage,  and  love,  that  divine  theme  of 
our  songs,  if  all  were  chasing  after  sensual  pleas- 
ures in  perpetual  change?  Think  of  the  moral  an- 
archy that  would  be  the  inevitable  consequence  of 
your  new  institution.  I  must  confess  that  I  am  hor- 
rified, and  can  hardly  believe  it  possible  that  the 
moral  sense  of  our  German  women  can  be  put  to 
shame  by  men. 

JULIE  VOM  BERG— The  gentleman's  objec- 
tions, which  so  pathetically  appeal  to  our  conscience, 
and  are  so  anxiously  concerned  about  our  dignity, 
are  most  welcome     They  give  me  an  opporunity  to 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  287 

speak  openly  on  this  subject,  which  even  in  this 
country  is  still  treated  with. the  most  unbecoming 
prudery,  and  the  most  senseless  reserve  I  do  not 
know  the  gentleman  whom  I  am  to  answer.  He 
need  not  take  my  remarks  personally — they  are 
aimed  at  the  masculine  world  in  general. 

I  begin  with  the  declaration  that  I  advocate  "free 
love"  completely  and  decidedly.  But  the  expression 
is  incorrect  and  ought  to  be  "freedom  in  love."  In- 
deed, can  any  other  kind  of  love  exist  except  free 
love?  Can  love  be  commanded  or  forced?  Some- 
thing of  this  sort  seems  hitherto  to  have  been  in  the 
minds  of  our  rihilosophers  of  love,  who  have  learned 
their  philosophy  in  Constantinople  or  Utah  appar- 
ently, and  who  can  let  a  slave  pass  as  their  beloved. 
Among  all  the  daughters  of  the  goddess  Liberty 
there  is  none,  who,  according  to  her  nature,  must 
possess  the  properties  of  her  mother  in  a  higher 
degree  than  Love.  Love  and  free  love  are  therefore 
synonymous.  It  ought  not  to  be  necessary  to  talk 
of  free  love,  any  more  than  of  wet  water,  or  hot 
fii  e.  I  might,  however,  conceive  of  love  as  not  free 
in  the  sense  that  the  feeling,  the  necessity,  the  pas- 
sion that  unites  two  beings,  binds  them  completely, 
destroys  their  free  will,  turns  them  irresistibly  away 
from  everything  else.  But  just  because  true  love 
has  this  effect,  exerts  this  power,  creates  this  neces- 
sity, it  ought  no  more  to  be  hindered  in  its  choice,  by 
external  force,  than  it  will  require  external  bonds 
to  insure  its  permanence.    A  man  and  woman  who 


288  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

do  not  love  each  other  ought  not  to  be  united,  or 
where  they  are  united,  they  ought  again  to  be  separ- 
ated; a  man  and  woman  who  love  each  other  ought 
not  to  be  kept  apart,  and  they  need  no  external  force 
to  remain  together.  This  is  the  simple  statement  of 
what  I  understand  by  freedom  in  love,  which  is  the 
only  means  of  securing  what  has  now  become  so 
rare  — a  true  marriage  and  a  happy  family  life.  Let 
him  who  does  not  agree  with  me  'have  the  courage 
to  postulate  the  opposite  and  declare,  that  those  who 
do  not  love  each  other  ought  to  be  united,  and  to  be 
kept  together  by  force,  those  who  love  each  other 
ought  to  be  separated  and  to  be  kept  apart  by  force 
—  both  in  the  interest  of  humanity  and  human  hap- 
piness ! 

Although  no  man  in  sound  mind  dares  to  make 
such  a  demand,  it  seems,  in  practice,  to  be  the  guid- 
ing principle  almost  everywhere.  If  all  the  consid- 
erations, whose  slaves  men  are  nowadays,  would 
suddenly  drop  for  only  a  period  of  twenty-four 
hours,  not  ten  of  the  so-called  marriages  would 
exist  next  day.  For  married  people  and  their 
progeny  the  consequences  of  the  existing  relation- 
ships of  force  and  prostitution  are  truly  appalling. 
But  this  same  society,  especially  the  male  portion  of 
it,  never  wearies  of  pronouncing  their  anathemas  on 
freedom  in  love.  "Free  love"  is  a  word  of  terror, 
but  free  prostitution  has  become  a  social  institution, 
which  is  approved  inside  and  outside  of  marriage  by 
a  legal  license.    And  shall  I  tell  you  why  men  con- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  289 

demn  freedom  in  love?  Because  it  would  be  the 
death  of  freedom  in  prostitution!  Our  male  teach- 
ers, who  can  discourse  so  wisely  on  our  nature,  no- 
where show  their  incapacity  to  judge  of  our  nature 
more  than  in  their  anxiety  that  freedom  will  lead  us 
Whither  it  has  led  them.  Give  woman  freedom,  and 
she  will  love  according  to  her  own  tastes  and  emo- 
tional needs,  give  man  freedom — -he  already  has  it 
— without  giving  it  to  woman,  and  he  will  prostitute 
himself  according  to  his  habit.  Prostitution  does 
not  proceed  from  woman  any  more  than  slavery 
does  from  the  slave;  as  the  latter  must  be  charged  to 
the  oppressor,  so  the  former  must  be  charged  to 
man.  "Free  love"  for  woman  signifies  the  end  of 
prostitution,  just  as  free  self-determination  for  the 
slave  signified  the  end  of  slavery. 

What  more  I  have  to  say  on  the  subject  I  will  say 
in  the  words  of  one  who  is  gone,  who  died  and  was 
forgotten  too  soon,  and  whose  memory  I  consider 
it  an  honor  to  revive.  Years  ago  one  of  the  first 
woman  conventions  took  place  in  Rutland,  in  the 
State  of  Vermont.  On  this  occasion — there  were 
also  a  great  many  spiritualists  present — much  ab- 
surd and  foolish  stuff  was  brought  up  for  discussion, 
but  at  the  same  time  several  women  speakers  created 
general  consternation  by  their  talent  and  boldness. 
A  hitherto  unknown  woman  attracted  the  greatest 
attention.  The  chief  organ  of  the  prostitution  party, 
the  "New  York  Herald,"  describes  her  personality 
thus:     "She  is  a  pale,  delicate  looking  woman,  with 


«9°  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

a  sweet,  calm  smile  continually  playing  about  her 
pretty  little  mouth.  Nobody  would  suspect  that  such 
a  woman  could  utter  sentiments  like  those  which  de- 
filed her  mouth  at  Rutland."  The  woman's  name 
was  Julia  Branch  from  New  York.  And  what  were 
the  criminal  sentiments  by  which  Julia  Branch  so 
greatly  incensed  the  moral  judges  of  the  male  per- 
suasion? Listen:  "No  man  has  a  right  to  dictate 
to  me  where  and  whom  I  must  love."  This  was  the 
subject  of  her  address.  Shocking!  A  little  woman 
with  a  pretty  mouth  dares  to  assert  that  no  one  in 
the  world  except  herself  can  determine  her  love. 
"Free  love !"    Down  with  it ! 

Later  a  similar  convention  took  place  in  Utica, 
in  the  State  of  New  York  at  which  Julia  Branch 
once  more  appeared.  This  time  the  chief  subject 
of  her  address  was  "Prostitution  and  Infanticide." 
Referring  to  the  verdict  of  condemnation,  which 
had  been  pronounced  on  her  former  speech,  she 
said,  among  other  things,  the  following:  "I  do  not 
fear  any  public  opinion,  or  public  condemnation,  for 
I  must  denounce  everybody,  be  it  man  or  woman, 
as  a  coward,  who  in  his  heart  holds  a  belief  or  prin- 
ciple, which  he  dares  not  advocate  openly  before 
all  the  world.  Such  men  do  not  know  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  word  freedom,  and  still  have  to  learn  the 
true  meaning  of  the  word  slavery.  True  enough,  it 
is  not  an  easy  matter  to  defy  public  opinion.  I  am 
not  astonished  to  see  strong  hearts  grown  'weary 
and  weak  in  doing  good.'      It  is  happiness  after 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  291 

which  all  the  world  aspires;  but  the  way  to  happiness 
has  been  planted  with  the  cross  of  duty,  and  has 
been  made  so  narrow,  and  steep,  that  but  few  ven- 
ture upon  it  unless  driven  by  the  fear  of  hopeless 
condemnation,  or  allured  by  the  promise  of  a  spark- 
ling crown  —  in  every  case  a  poor  recommendation 
for  their  own  or  the  general  conception  of  happiness. 
The  ambition  to  become  great  in  public  opinion  or 
to  gain  the  applause  or  approval  of  the  masses,  is 
a  childish  sentiment.  The  most  faithful  and  noblest 
reformers  of  to-day  as  well  as  of  all  former  genera- 
tions are  those  who  have  lost  their  'reputation'  by 
advocating  unpopular  principles.  Indeed,  neither 
man  nor  woman  can  do  thorough  reform  work  in 
the  present  state  of  society  so  long  as  they  have  not 
lost  their  'reputation.'  " 

Has  ever  man  or  woman  spoken  nobler  or  prouder 
words  than  this  "delicate"  woman,  with  the  "small 
mouth"  and  the  "sweet  smile?" 

She  then  proceeds  to  describe  the  condition  of  so- 
ciety and  especially  of  the  institution  of  marriage, 
which,  above  all,  she  holds  responsible  for  the  two 
evils  upon  which  she  is  about  to  speak  —  prostitu- 
tion and  infanticide.  "I  hope,"  she  says,  "that  the 
meeting  will  listen  to  me  calmly  while  I  speak  of  the 
first  evil.  It  is  without  doubt  a  disagreeable  subject 
for  an  audience  to  listen  to.  Many  of  you,  perhaps 
all,  have  grown  up  amid  the  limitations  of  false  shame 
and  false  delicacy,  and  if  a  woman  dares  only  to  hint 
at  such  a  subject  publicly,  or  betrays  any  knowl- 


292  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

edge  of  it,  it  suffices  to  cast  a  suspicion  upon  her 
own  morality.  But  whatever  may  be  thought  of 
me,  I  openly  confess  that  I  take  an  interest  in  every- 
thing human,  not  excepting  the  woman  who  has 
abandoned  the  path  of  virtue,  and  who  is  considered 
a  worthy  representative  of  that  place  of  eternal  tor- 
ture, to  which  our  Christian  friends  mercilessly 
condemn  her." 

Is  it  not  inspiring  to  hear,  in  the  midst  of  this  bab- 
bling and  howling  hypocrisy,  which  oppresses  the 
minds  of  this  pious  world  of  scoundrels  like  a  night- 
mare, such  noble  contempt  of  the  stupid  monster, 
called  public  opinion,  expressed  by  a  "delicate" 
woman  ? 

Of  this  dreadful  pest,  prostitution,  which  poisons, 
both  physically  and  morally,  millions  of  the  coming 
as  well  as  of  the  present  generations  of  men,  Mrs. 
Branch  contents  herself  with  unfolding  a  picture  by 
means  of  statistical  tables,  which  she  has  received 
from  physicians,  especially  from  Dr.  Saenger,  of 
Blackwell's  Island.  Dr.  Saenger  explored  the  city 
of  New  York  under  police  escort  and  found  four 
hundred  notorious  brothels  with  eight  thousand  fe- 
male inhabitants.  The  number  of  the  frequenters 
of  these  houses,  which  consume  some  eight  million 
dollars,  he  estimates  at  sixty  thousand  a  day.  Of 
the  private  prostitution,  which  exceeds  the  public 
(New  York  is  said  to  contain  forty  thousand  prosti- 
tutes) Dr.  Saenger  could  give  no  estimate;  but  in 
England  they  count  one  prostitute  to  every  fourteen 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.          293 

women  (in  France  the  proportion  is  said  to  be  much 
worse)  and  on  the  average  the  unfortunates  there 
lead  this  sort  of  life  only  for  four  years,  whereupon 
they  "marry"  and  become  "respectable  wives  and 
mothers.,,  For  this  increase  the  "married  state" 
shows  itself  sufficiently  grateful. 

Mrs.  Branch  emphasizes  the  fact  that  five-sixths  of 
the  frequenters  of  houses  of  prostitution  are  mar- 
ried men !  And  how  necessary  present  society  con- 
siders prostitution  to  be,  is  shown  by  the  answer 
with  which  the  Mayor  of  New  Bedford  met  the  re- 
quest that  the  houses  of  prostitution  should  be  abol- 
ished: "If  these  houses  are  abolished,  our  wives  and 
daughters  will  no  longer  be  safe  anywhere — on  every 
street  they  will  be  in  danger  of  being  insulted." 
(That  reminds  one  of  the  worthy  Mr.  Stringfellow, 
who  argued  that  slavery  was  necessary,  because  the 
female  slaves  were  a  moral  lightning-rod,  so  to 
speak,  for  the  Caucasian  women.) 

Insulted  on  the  street!  "But,"  Mrs.  Branch  asks, 
"by  whom  would  they  be  insulted?  Not  by  any  man 
outside  of  the  world,  but  by  somebody  in  the  world, 
somebody  here  and  there  and  everywhere  —  sixty 
thousand  of  these  men  are  in  the  streets  of  New 
York  daily,  they  meet  you  everywhere,  their  warm 
breath  fills  the  air,  and  the  purest  and  most  modest 
girls  are  constantly  brought  into  contact  with  them! 
Who  are  they?  Who  but  husbands,  fathers,  broth- 
ers? Whose  husband,  father,  brother?  Is  it  yours? 
Is  it  mine?    The  blood  rushes  into  my  cheeks  as 


294  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

well  as  into  yours,  at  the  thought  that  they  could  be 
our  friends." 

And  yet,  she  ought  to  have  added,  each  one  of  the 
sixty  thousand  considers  himself  qualified  to  play 
the  part  of  superior  moral  teacher,  and  to  condemn 
Mrs.  Julia  Branch,  because  she  said  that  she  alone 
was  to  decide  where,  when  and  whom  she  was  to 
love.  The  fact  that  this  liberty  is  not  recognized  and 
practiced  everywhere,  she  considers  to  be  the  chief 
cause  of  prostitution.  "The  cause  lies  in  our  pres- 
ent institution  of  marriage,  which  forces  a  man  and 
woman  to  remain  together  until  death  separates 
them,  without  love,  without  intellectual,  moral  and 
physical  harmony."  The  objection,  that  without 
the  present  marriage  bonds  our  sexual  relations 
would  sink  into  a  state  of  anarchy,  she  meets  with 
the  true  observation  that  worse  conditions  than  the 
present  are  impossible,  and  that  perfect  liberty  at 
its  worst  would  create  a  better  generation  of  men 
and  women.  The  hypocrisy  which  declares  that 
bonds  are  necessary  to  restrain  those  who  cannot 
restrain  themselves,  and  as  an  example  mentions 
"Mr.  So-and-so,  who  neglects  his  wife,"  etc.,  she 
silences  with  the  question,  "How  old  is  the  youngest 
child  of  Mr.  So-and-so?"  Answer:  "Two  or  three 
months."  "Does  it  not  make  one  heart-sick  to  see 
such  degraded  conditions  and  the  wretched  subter- 
fuges behind  which  they  are  to  be  concealed?" 

The  second  subject  upon  which  Mrs.  Branch 
spoke  was  infanticide.     She  proved  by  statistical 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  295 

statements  that  this  crime,  which  has  here  come  to 
be  an  every-day  measure  of  expediency  and  correc- 
tion, has  increased  in  a  frightful  degree.  In  the  year 
1805  the  proportion  in  New  York  of  still-born  chil- 
dren to  the  entire  population  was  one  to  sixteen 
hundred  and  twelve;  in  1820,  one  to  six  hundred 
and  fifty-four;  in  1840,  one  to  five  hundred  and  six- 
teen; in  1850,  one  to  three  hundred  and  eighty-six. 
Dr.  Wyne  calculated  that  for  the  year  1805  there 
was  one  abortion  in  forty-nine  births,  for  1810  one  in 
thirty-three,  for  181 5  one  in  thirty-two,  for  1830  one 
in  twenty,  for  1840  one  in  sixteen,  for  1845  one  m 
thirteen,  for  1850  one  in  twelve.  The  same  physi- 
cian told  Mrs.  Branch  that  the  crime  of  infanticide 
had  increased  since  1805  four  hundred  and  fifteen 
per  cent.  If  this  ratio  continues,  hardly  a  child  will 
be  born  alive  in  New  York,  at  the  end  of  the  cen- 
tury. And  such  a  population  listens  to  condemna- 
tion of  "free  love"  as  if  it  still  had  any  right  to  con- 
demn anything  whatever  except  itself!  How  many 
of  the  mothers  of  those  thousands  of  murdered  chil- 
dren could  say  of  themselves  that  they  alone  were  to 
decide  where,  when  and  whom  they  should  love? 
None  of  the  pharisees,  who  condemn  women  like 
Julia  Branch  as  immoral,  have  ever  asked  them- 
selves this  weighty  question. 

"What,"  asks  Mrs.  Branch,  "is  the  cause  of  this 
frightful  increase  of  this  most  unnatural  of  crimes? 
I  can  find  it  only  in  our  present  institution  of  mar- 
riage.   Not  the  slightest  scruple  exists,  either  in  or 


296  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

out  of  wedlock,  to  destroy  the  life  of  a  child  —  out 
of  wedlock  on  account  of  the  fear  of  losing  'respect- 
ability' since  society  condemns  the  mother  as  im- 
moral; in  wedlock  because  the  cares  of  maternity  are 
binding,  annoying  and  difficult.  We  can  have  no 
idea  to  what  extent  this  system  of  murder  is  prac- 
ticed, and  yet  if  we  consider  the  numbers  of  children 
which  fill  our  prisons,  we  must  almost  call  it  a  boon. 
Mothers,  think  of  it!  Every  son  whom  you  place 
into  this  world,  whom  you  have  not  conceived  in 
purest  love,  has  all  the  qualities  which  fill  our  prisons 
and  poor-houses,  inherent  within  him;  every  daugh- 
ter of  this  kind  is  born  with  the  tendencies  which 
lead  to  houses  of  prostitution.  Therefore  it  is  your 
responsibility  as  well  as  your  right  to  say,  where 
and  when  and  how  you  want  to  become  mothers. 
Therefore  it  is  also  a  necessity  for  you  to  acquire  a 
knowledge  of  every  art  and  science  which  now  are 
the  monopoly  of  men,  that  you  may  learn  how  to 
bring  better  children  into  this  world.  I  reject  in  all 
things  the  stupid  saying  that  ignorance  is  a  blessing. 
Woman  is  to  know  everything  that  man  is  capable 
of  knowing,  and  is  to  have  full  liberty  to  acquire  the 
knowledge.  You  must  break  every  chain  that  hin- 
ders your  development,  be  it  church  or  state,  man 
or  woman,  wife  or  child,  who  forges  it." 

In  closing  she  refers  to  the  fact  that  the  existence 
of  the  present  institution  of  marriage  does  not  hin- 
der propagation  outside  of  marriage,  and  that,  for 
example,  in  the  year  1852,  fifty-five  thousand  "ille- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  297 

gitimate"  children  were  born  in  England  and  Wales. 
Therefore  nature  ought  to  be  restored  to  her  right, 
and  the  difference  between  legitimate  and  illegiti- 
mate births  ought  to  be  abolished  that  at  least  one 
ground  for  infanticide  may  be  done  away  with.  She 
then  closes  with  the  resolution  : 

"Since  the  crime  of  infanticide  has  increased  and 
still  increases,  from  year  to  year,  under  the  present 
false  form  of  marriage,  therefore  all  children,  under 
whatever  conditions  they  may  be  born,  should  be 
declared  legitimate." 

Thus  far  Julia  Branch.  Oh,  that  I  could  recall  her 
to  life,  this  pale,  little  woman,  with  the  pretty  mouth, 
and  the  sweet  smile!  By  the  death  of  this  woman 
who  so  boldly  advocated  the  rights  of  the  free 
woman,  and  who  knew  how  to  put  men  to  shame  by 
holding  a  mirror  up  to  their  arrogance  and  vulgarity, 
our  cause  has  received  an  incalculable  loss.  In 
honor  to  her  memory,  and  in  proof  of  our  apprecia- 
tion for  this  noble  woman,  who  departed  from  life  in 
quiet  unpretentiousness,  I  request  the  entire  meet- 
ing, men  and  women,  to  rise  from  their  seats. 

The  entire  meeting  arose,  and  all  eyes  went  in 
quest  of  Mr.  Morality  of  New  York,  who  had  brought 
Julie  vom  Berg  to  the  platform.  But  in  vain.  He 
had  availed  himself  of  the  rapt  attention,  with  which 
everybody  listened  to  the  speaker,  to  steal  away 
unnoticed. 

As  no  one  else  desired  to  be  heard,  the  order  of 
business  was  resumed. 


298  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

Just  as  the  President  was  on  the  point  of  putting 
the  resolutions  to  a  vote  the  following  letter  from 
Waldeck,  Virginia,  was  read  to  the  convention  by 
the  Secretary: 
Dear  Countrywomen: 

I  am  a  born  American,  although  no  true  Cau- 
casian. My  mother  was  a  native  of  Africa,  and  only 
my  father,  whose  slave  she  was,  belonged  to  the 
Caucasian  race.  Now  if  I  address  you  as  country- 
women I  do  it  because  my  husband  is  a  German,  or 
because  I  look  upon  you  as  Americans,  or  because 
we  all  belong  together  as  cosmopolitans.  I  hope 
you  place  as  little  importance  upon  the  merely  ex- 
ternal differences  in  men  as  I  do.  But  if  I  am  to 
make  a  difference  for  once,  and  choose  a  place  for 
myself,  I  want  to  be  a  German.  I  shall  tell  you 
why. 

My  poor  mother  was  dead,  and  I  grew  up  with  the 
white  daughters  of  my  father,  who  were  younger 
than  I,  partly  as  a  sister,  partly  as  a  nurse.  Then 
the  war  broke  out.  My  father  went  as  colonel.  (He 
fell  later  at  Richmond.)  When  he  was  gone  his 
wife  thought  it  advisable  to  have  her  slaves  taken 
further  south  for  security.  She  could  never  endure 
me  and  therefore  wanted  to  send  me  away  first,  to  an 
acquaintance  in  South  Carolina,  who  had  formerly 
offered  $3,000  for  me.  I  knew  what  that  meant, 
and  determined  to  fly  to  the  North.  I  was  then  only 
eighteen  years  old,  but  strong  and  courageous,  and 
so  I  started  on  my  way  at  night  with  an  old  slave,  a 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  299 

relative  of  my  mother's.  I  had  a  revolver,  and  he 
a  bowie-knife.  After  a  tramp  of  several  days, 
through  forests  and  desolate  places,  we  one  evening, 
weary  and  half-starved,  approached  a  farm  house 
that  lay  at  the  foot  of  a  hill,  half-hidden  by  the  edge 
of  a  forest.  The  house  was  pretty,  it  stood  in  a  large 
garden,  and  the  entire  surroundings  showed  that  it 
was  not  inhabited  by  Southern  people.  We  looked 
in  at  the  window,  and  saw  four  persons  in  the  lighted 
room  —  two  old  men,  an  old  woman,  and  a  young 
man.  They  did  not  look  like  Americans,  and  we 
determined  to  enter.  As  soon  as  we  had  made  our- 
selves known  as  fugitives,  we  were  received  and  en- 
tertained in  the  most  friendly  manner.  Only  one  of 
the  old  men  did  not  regard  us  with  a  friendly  eye. 
On  the  second  day  we  wanted  to  push  on,  but  were 
advised  to  wait,  because  the  region  towards  the 
north  was  not  safe.  We  were  quite  content  to  com- 
ply, since  we  were  with  such  excellent  people,  and 
took  a  hand  in  the  work  wherever  we  found  an  op- 
portunity. I  won  the  affections  of  the  old  woman, 
•whom  I  relieved  of  almost  all  the  housework,  and 
the  young  man  showed  me  the  most  friendly  regard. 
I  had  never  been  in  such  pleasant  company,  and  the 
thought  of  continuing  my  journey  filled  me  with 
dismay.  Suddenly  came  the  news  that  rebel  troops 
were  close  by.  Caesar,  my  old  companion,  who 
was  always  on  the  lookout,  had  seen  them.  He  did 
not  fear  anything  for  himself;  he  could  pass  him- 
self off  as  the  slave  of  the  farmer,  and  nobody  cared 


300  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

for  an  old  man.  But  the  son  of  the  house  was  to  be 
pressed  into  the  rebel  army,  and  I  would  have  been 
recognized  as  a  fugitive  at  once.  There  was  no 
time  for  consideration;  I  took  my  revolver  and 
hastened  with  the  young  man,  who  had  his  rifle  over 
his  shoulder,  into  the  forest,  where  we  kept  ourselves 
hidden  for  two  days.  Then  Caesar  brought  us  the 
news  that  the  rebels  had  all  departed,  and  were  at 
a  safe  distance.  They  had  searched 'the  house,  and 
the  neighborhood,  and  had  at  last  contented  them- 
selves with  the  assurance  that  the  son  had  left  for 
the  army,  as  long  as  two  weeks  ago.  When  I  came 
out  of  the  woods  with  him,  he  presented  me  to  his 
parents  as  his  fiancee.  In  order  to  win  my  love  it 
would  not  have  been  necessary  at  all  for  him  to  de- 
clare his  love  for  me,  for  from  the  first  moment  that 
I  saw  him,  I  had  said  to  myself:  Him  I  should  like 
for  a  husband.  As  he  presented  me,  his  mother  at 
once  approved,  only  his  father,  who  had  been  a 
"Democrat,"  shook  his  head  and  made  a  sulky  face. 
But  Fritz  said:  "She  has  a  clear  head,  she  has  a 
good  heart,  she  has  the  best  of  principles,  she  has  a 
bright  sense  of  humor,  she  is  an  industrious  worker, 
and  with  all  that  she  is  prettier  than  all  the  girls  I 
can  think  of.  I  love  her,  and  she  loves  me,  and  we 
shall  be  happy.  What  more  can  you  ask?"  The 
old  man  had  to  give  his  consent  and  we  became 
husband  and  wife.  This  we  have  now  been  for  seven 
years,  and  are  still  as  happy  as  on  the  first  day.  We 
have  also  laid  by  something.    We  now  have  one 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  3°i 

hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land,  fifty  acres  of  grain, 
six  of  grapes  and  the  rest  in  meadow  land  and  forest 
—  everything  like  one  large  garden.  But  you  ought 
to  see  my  children !  The  girl  is  only  two  years  old. 
Oh,  I  tremble  with  fear  and  rage,  if  I  think  back  to 
the  time  when  such  a  child  could  be  torn  from  one's 
arms  and  be  sold.  Take  this  child  away  from  me? 
No,  nobody  could  have  done  that.  I  would  have 
torn  him  with  my  teeth ;  I  would  rather  have  allowed 
myself  to  be  torn  to  pieces  than  to  have  the  child 
taken  from  me.  But  then  the  boy!  He  is  five  years 
old.  You  have  never  seen  such  a  boy.  He  is  an 
intermediate  between  an  angel  and  a  young  lion. 
It  seems  to  me  in  the  evening  that  it  could  not  be- 
come dark  at  all,  so  long  as  he  keeps  his  great  eyes 
open.  Otherwise  he  is  just  like  his  father,  especially 
the  mouth.  Even  our  dog  sometimes  sits  down  in 
front  of  him,  when  he  is  playing,  just  to  look  at 
him.  We  call  him  Fritz,  after  his  father,  and  his 
little  sister  Elizabeth  after  myself. 

I  had  to  write  you  all  this  that  you  might  know 
>how  I  came  to  be  your  country-woman.  Several 
German  families  have  now  settled  in  our  neighbor- 
hood, very  good  and  educated  people.  We  often 
visit  among  each  other,  take  German  papers,  espe- 
cially "Der  Pionier,"  and  discuss  everything  they 
contain.  My  husband  and  I  are  always  the  most 
radical,  and  when  we  read  of  your  convention  we 
felt  like  starting  for  Frauenstadt  at  once.  But  that 
could  not  be,  because  my  father-in-law  died  recently, 


302  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

my  good  mother-in-law  is  ailing,  and  old  Uncle 
Jacob  is  away.  But  I  must  at  least  write  to  you  in 
order  to  tell  you  how  I  rejoice  that  there  are  radical 
German  women  besides  myself.  I  really  do  not  com- 
prehend wfiy  they  are  not  all  radical.  To  be  radical, 
after  all,  means  nothing  else  than  to  have  common 
sense.  But  it  seems  to  be  easier  to  rob  people  of 
their  common  sense  than  to  use  it  fearlessly.  When 
they  hear  strange  words,  which  they  do  not  under- 
stand, or  when  learned  people  talk  to  them,  they 
have  more  confidence  in  the  stuff  which  they  do  not 
understand  than  in  themselves.  A  few  days  ago  I 
read  an  essay,  in  which  a  most  learned  doctor  ex- 
plained what  a  great  difference  there  is  between  the 
separate  parts  of  the  male  and  the  female  body,  and 
how  different  therefore  must  be  the  avocation  and 
the  rights  of  men  and  women.  A  few  of  my  neigh- 
fors  took  this  seriously.  But  I  asked  them:  "Why 
do  you  not  reason  according  to  your  own  ideas,  in- 
stead of  believing  the  teachings  of  this  doctor?  This 
man's  theory  proves  the  very  opposite  of  what  he 
wishes  it  to  prove.  Just  because  man  and  woman 
are  different,  each  can  decide  and  judge  only  about 
himself  or  herself.  Is  it  not  perfect  nonsense  to  have 
a  man  tell  me  that  I  am  an  entirely  different  being 
than  he  is,  and  that  therefore  he  may  or  must  tell 
me  what  I  am  capable  of  doing,  what  I  am  cut  out 
for,  what  I  want,  and  what  is  becoming  to  me? 
Would  not  that  be  the  same  as  saying:  Because  he 
is  a  man,  therefore,  he  can  think  and  will  like  a 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  3°3 

woman,  more  womanly  than  I  myself?  Because  he 
has  not  my  nature,  therefore  he  must  teach  me  what 
my  nature  ought  to  be?  That  is  as  despotic  as  it  is 
senseless.  Just  because  he  is  different  from  me,  for 
that  very  reason  he  cannot  and  shall  not  prescribe 
to  me  what  I  am  to  think  and  to  want,  for  that  very 
reason  he  cannot  represent  me,  for  that  very  reason 
I  will  and  must  have  the  right  to  follow  my  own 
inclinations  to  guard  my  own  interests.  Would  he 
not  be  highly  indignant,  and  pronounce  me  insane 
should  I  presume  to  be  better  able  to  judge  of  his 
nature  than  he  himself,  and  derive  a  right  from  that 
to  act  as  his  guardian?"  This  seemed  quite  plausi- 
ble to  my  neighbors,  and  they  declared  the  doctor  to 
be  an  insolent  humbug. 

My  dear  countrywomen,  I  find  that  human  affairs 
always  grow  more  simple,  the  more  humanely  you 
look  at  them,  and  the  less  you  allow  yourself  to  be  im- 
posed upon  by  learned  people,  who  are  frequently 
greater  blockheads  than  the  simplest  day-laborers. 
These  gentlemen  think  we  women  are  not  able  to  have 
anopinionon  affairs  of  the  state.  Well,  I  always  read 
the  papers  and  gather  from  them  what  sort  of  affairs 
of  state  those  are  on  which  we  are  not  to  have  an 
opinion  and  in  which  we  are  not  to  have  a  voice. 
But  I  have  not  yet  come  across  any  question  where 
I  could  not  at  once  decide  for  myself  how  I  should 
have  to  vote,  while  statesmen  and  scholars  quarrel 
over  them  for  years.  Liberty  or  slavery?  I  vote  for 
liberty,  although  I  have  a  different  physique  than 


304  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

either  a  statesman  or  a  doctor.  Prerogative  of  the 
States  or  of  the  Union?  I  vote  for  the  prerogative 
of  the  Union,  since  the  States  belong  to  the  Union, 
but  not  the  Union  to  the  States.  President  or  legis- 
lature ?  Away  with  the  servant  who  rules  his  master ! 
Well,  these  are  great  "complex"  "political"  ques- 
tions, and  yet  as  simple  as  a  question  of  domestic 
economy.  Now  if  you  examine  the  minor  questions 
of  legislation,  in  the  affairs  of  the  Union,  the  State, 
the  county,  you  wil'l  be  still  les9  able  to  find  one  over 
which  you  can  long  remain  in  doubt,  on  which  sid'e 
is  sense  or  nonsense,  right  or  wrong.  But  one  thing 
I  will  admit :  We  women  shall  vote  differently  upon 
many  questions  than  the  men,  just  because  they,  for 
thousands  of  years,  have  become  habituated  to  force 
and  wrong,  and  still  too  frequently  mistake  the  one 
for  reason  and  the  other  for  right. 

I  have  not  met  very  many  men  in  my  life,  but 
sometimes  I  think  that  the  majority  of  them  must 
be  fools.  Twice  two  is  four,  that  is,  acording  to  the 
masculine  arithmetic.  But  when  a  woman  multi- 
plies, they  expect  the  result  to  be  five.  They  think 
a  woman  is  unable  to  distinguish  black  from  white, 
straight  from  crooked,  big  from  little,  warm  from 
cold,  and  yet  they  expect  us  to  be  able  at  once  to  se- 
lect from  them  the  best,  the  noblest,  the  cleverest, 
the  greatest,  the  most  lovable,  and  of  course,  each 
one  expects  himself  to  be  that  one.  Is  that  anything 
but  crazy?  But  even  if  they  had  faith  in  our  correct 
judgment  on  other  things  than  their  own  amiability, 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  3°5 

they  still  insist  that  we  have  at  least  no  right  to  ex- 
ercise that  judgment  where  it  can  be  of  use, 
namely,  at  the  polls.  Is  not  that  more  than 
crazy?  I  always  have  to  laugh  at  our  old  Uncle 
Jacob.  He  is  no  "Democrat,"  as  his  brother  was, 
and  he  also  has  quite  a  different  opinion  of  women, 
but  he  draws  the  line  at  suffrage.  At  every  election 
in  our  neighborhood,  he  comes  to  me  for  advice,  and 
then  generally  votes  as  I  wish  him  to.  But  when  I 
ask  him  why  it  would  not  be  just  as  well  for  me  to 
vote,  since  he  always  abides  by  my  judgment,  he 
answers:  "You  women  are  either  too  stupid  or  too 
clever  for  it."  The  former  expression  I  should  fre- 
quently like  to  apply  tc  the  men,  but  I  am  not  so 
stupid  as  to  acquiesce  in  the  other  alternative. 

I  must  now  bid  you  farewell.  I  hope  that  your 
convention  will  pass  off  satisfactorily,  and  be  a  suc- 
cess. But  if  any  one  of  you  should  ever  come  to  our 
beautiful  country,  she  must  make  us  a  visit.  Sin- 
cerely yours,  ELIZABETH  STARK. 

My  husband  also  sends  his  best  regards. 

The  letter  was  received  with  general  applause,  and 
the  Secretary  instructed  to  answer  it  appropriately. 

THIRD  DAY. 

After  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  the  most 
excellent  spirit  came  to  prevail  at  once  by  the  read- 
ing of  the  following  document,  directed  to  the  Presi- 
dent: 
To  the  Presidentsy  of  the  German  Woman's  Con- 

venshun  in  Frauenstadt,  Protestantation : 


3O0  THE  BIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

Our  editor  has  told  us,  and  has  also  made  up  this 
protestantation,  that  you  want  to  immancerpate  all 
women  folks  and  let  them  all  become  men  folks,  and 
do  all  men's  work,  and  that  no  man  would  then  any 
longer  be  sure  of  his  work,  or  his  business.  Now, 
see  here,  we  haven't  work  enough  anyhow  and  bad 
pay  at  that,  and  now  you  even  want  to  take  that 
away  from  us?  Why  don't  you  stick  to  your  needles 
and  scissors,  and  pots  and  kettles?  What  do  you 
want  in  our  sphere?  You  must  stay  in  your  nature 
and  not  step  into  our  feelings.  We  warn  you  that 
we  shall  appeal  to  the  government  and  that  we  here- 
by protestantate  with  our  whole  instinct. 

Signed : 

A.  Hammer,  blacksmith. 
M.  Beam,  carpenter. 

R.  Backup,  coal-shoveler. 
Th.  Craft,  sailor. 

F.  Trotter,  teamster. 
S.  Lager,  brewer. 

K.  Granit,  quarry  man. 

G.  Clay,  bricklayer. 
V.  Steer,  butcher. 

B.  Skin,  flayer. 

N.  Strong,  longshoreman. 
JULIE  VOM   BERG— We  need  not  stop  to 
ascertain  whether  this  document  is  genuine  or  spuri- 

Translators  Note— I  have  here  attempted  to  reproduce 
the  faulty  spelling  and  grammar  by  which  the  author 
wished  to  characterize  the  ignorance  and  illiteracy  of  the 
petitioners  and  their  "editor." 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  3°7 

ous.  It  is  in  any  case  a  most  striking  and  down- 
right satire  upon  those  shining  lights  of  the  press, 
who  seem  to  depend  only  on  a  public,  such  as  the 
undersigned,  whom  they  can  constantly  alarm  with 
the  anxiety  that  women  could,  by  an  equality  of 
rights,  lose  their  nature,  adopt  masculine  habits, 
seek  masculine  employment,  usurp  masculine 
"spheres  of  action,"  in  short,  transform  themselves 
into  female  men.  How  fortunate  that  these  moni- 
tors remind  us  of  ourselves;  otherwise  we  might 
forget  that  we  are  women!  But  is  it  not  remark- 
able that  those  men,  who  are  least  of  all  qualified 
to  serve  us  as  models  for  imitation,  are  most  fre- 
quently haunted  by  a  fear  that  our  enfranchisement 
might  induce  us  to  cast  off  our  feminine  nature,  and 
to  pass  over  into  the  male  sex?  If  some  malign 
power  should  ever  irresistibly  tempt  me  to  adopt  a 
masculine  nature,  models,  of  the  sort  of  these  Ger- 
man editors,  would  cure  me  thoroughly  for  all  time, 
and  would  drive  me  back  into  my  feminine  nature 
for  the  salvation  of  my  humanity  and  respectabil- 

ity." 

After  these  remarks,  which  were  received  with 
cheerful  acclamations,  the  committee  for  special 
motions  was  requested  to  report. 

The  first  motion  concerned  the  permanent  asso- 
ciation of  radical  German  women.  To  gain  this 
point  it  was  resolved  to  establish  a  central  com- 
mittee in  New  York,  whidh  was  to  take  the  initial 
steps  towards  organizing  the  movement  throughout 


308  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

m 

the  whole  land,  and  enter  into  relations  with  the 
American  woman  suffrage  committee,  and  with  the 
German  "Association  for  the  Dissemination  of 
Radical  Principles." 

Second  Motion — "Since  the  rights  of  women  are 
championed  among  German  men  only  by  the  real 
radicals,  who  are  trying  to  inaugurate  a  general 
propaganda,  through  their  'Association  for  the  Dis- 
semination of  Radical  Principles/  it  is  the  interest 
as  well  as  the  duty  of  radical  German  women  to  sup- 
port this  association  to  the  best  of  their  ability. 
Fairs  ought  therefore  to  be  started,  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, in  all  places,  where  a  number  of  such  women 
can  come  together,  and  the  proceeds  turned  over 
to  this  association." 

In  discussing  this  motion,  attention  was  called  to 
the  fact  that  German  men,  in  general,  even  many 
who  call  themselves  radical,  have  no  money  to  spare 
for  intellectual  purposes,  because  they  must  spend 
everything  for  beer  and  cigars — a  need  which  na- 
ture has  fortunately  denied  to  the  feminine  se*. 
That,  although  our  sex,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a 
passion  for  fine  dresses  and  gewgaws,  this  would 
yield  in  a  direct  ratio  to  an  increasingly  rational 
education,  while  radical  women  were  free  from  it 
even  now.  It  would,  therefore,  be  quite  an  easy 
thing  for  women  to  spend  a  part  of  their  pocket 
money,  not,  indeed,  for  gewgaws  and  ribbons,  but 
for  material  for  handiwork,  etc.,  that  could  be  util- 
ized for  fairs. 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  3°9 

Third  Motion — Attempts  ought  to  be  made,  and 
especially  ought  to  be  recommended  to  the  central 
committee  in  New  York,  to  see  to  it  that  at  least  two 
women,  and  one  of  them  a  German,  are  appointed 
as  members  of  the  board  of  "Commissioners  of  Emi- 
gration." 

The  reason  given  for  this  motion  was  that  accord- 
ing to  everything  that  could  be  learned,  either 
through  the  press  or  incidentally,  of  the  existing  ar- 
rangements for  the  protection  of  immigrants,  these 
arrangements  did  not  benefit  the  women  in  the  same 
degree  as  the  men,  although  the  former  needed  pro- 
tection more  than  the  latter.  This  want  could  only 
be  remedied  through  feminine  watchfulness  and 
care.  At  present  the  chief  aim  of  the  board  is  to  se- 
cure the  immigrants  against  pecuniary  losses 
through  swindling;  but  the  immigrating  women  and 
girls,  especially  those  who  arrive  without  male  com- 
panions, were  threatened  with  entirely  different 
dangers,  besides  the  loss  of  money,  and  hundreds, 
perhaps  thousands,  had  already  perished,  because 
there  was  no  one  to  pay  especial  attention  to  their 
condition  and  their  welfare.  It  was  also  natural  that 
a  stranger,  upon  her  arrival,  would  at  once  confide 
her  plans  and  grievances  to  a  woman,  appointed  to 
guard  the  new-comer's  interests,  while  she  would 
be  reticent  toward  a  male  official.  This  would  be 
especially  true  with  regard  to  the  treatment  on 
board  ship,  concerning  which  scandalous  stories  get 
abroad  subsequently.    It  was  most  urgently  neces- 


3io  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

sary,  therefore,  that  the  board  of  commissioners  of 
immigration  should  be  perfected  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  capable  women,  whose  special  duty  it  would 
be  to  look  after  those  of  their  own  sex  in  need  of 
help,  and  to  protect  them  against  all  dangers  that 
lurk  in  the  way  to  their  destination. 

Accepted. 

Fourth  Motion — All  German  women  ought  to 
make  it  their  especial  task  to  send  their  children  to 
German  schools,  and  to  insist  upon  their  speaking 
German  among  themselves,  which,  of  course,  must 
not  preclude  the  learning  of  the  English  language. 

Accepted  and  recommended. 

Fifth  Motion — The  chief  means  for  spreading  en- 
lightenment, truth  and  humane  progress  is  the  press, 
especially  the  daily  press.  Women,  all  whose  inter- 
ests depend  upon  this  progress,  act  against  their  own 
interests  if  they  do  not  exert  themselves  to  the 
utmost  to  support  the  radical  press  —  the  only  one 
which  champions  their  rights  —  and  to  discounten- 
ance the  reactionary  and  indifferent  papers.  It  is, 
therefore,  the  duty  of  all  radical  women,  to  introduce 
radical  papers  into  their  circles,  and  to  banish  all 
others  from  them. 

This  motion  was  especially  supported  by  Julie 
vom  Berg,  who  spoke  as  follows: 

The  feminine  sex  is  all  the  more  interested  in  re- 
forming the  press  because  it  has  so  far  been  con- 
trolled, almost  exclusively,  by  men.  Men  write  the 
papers,  men  circulate  them,  and  most  women  read 
without  choice  or  hesitation,  what  is  placed  before 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.          3" 

them.  But  what  does  the  reading  matter,  that  is 
placed  before  them  as  their  intellectual  food,  offer 
them?  Disregarding  religious  papers,  which  self- 
evidently  are  or  ought  to  be  excluded  from  our  cir- 
cles, we  are  offered  little  more  than  the  daily  reiter- 
ated, stupid  disgusting  disputes  of  the  party  slaves, 
who  try  to  mutually  outdo  each  other,  both  in  their 
accusations,  and  in  their  defenses,  by  unscrupulous 
lying;  or  reprints  of  the  most  unprincipled  and  cor- 
rupt fiction,  by  which  servile  litterateurs  in  Germany 
try  to  keep  the  oppressed  subjects  from  thinking 
about  their  execrable  conditions.  The  whole  land 
is  deluged  with  the  organs  of  the  party  slaves,  and 
the  products  of  the  manufacturers  of  "entertaining 
literature."  Every  means,  even  the  most  mendicant, 
is  adopted  for  their  circulation,  and  peddling  agents 
obtrude  themselves  into  every  house,  for  the  special 
purpose  of  inducing  women  to  buy  their  wares.  It 
is  not  astonishing  that  with  such  reading  matter, 
which  is  intended  only  for  subjects,  even  the  free 
spirit  of  the  republic  is  led  astray,  minds  become 
effeminate  or  poisoned,  and  good  taste  corrupted. 
We  deplore  the  stagnation  of  all  intellectual  life, 
and  the  want  of  sympathy  for  higher  aspirations, 
among  the  German  women  of  this  country.  Is  any- 
thing else  to  be  expected,  when  we  consider  the 
character  of  their  intellectual  food,  which  consists 
mainly  of  criminal  stories,  insipid  tea-table  novels, 
local  gossip,  the  advertisements  of  fortune-tellers, 
or  masked  medical  murderers,  etc.?    All  this  litera- 


312  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

ture  seems  to  be  designed  to  confine  women  to  the 
intellectual  level  of  the  populace,  and  to  keep  every 
incentive  to  thought  and  aspiration  away  from  them. 
And  what  sort  of  minds  are  they,  who  send  such 
reading  matter  forth  into  the  world?  We  have  made 
the  acquaintance  of  several  examples.  They  are  the 
so-called  "editors.''  The  journalistic  profession 
seems  to  distinguish  itself  above  all  others,  not  only 
in  that  it  throws  open  its  doors  to  all  manner  of  in- 
capacity, and  unworthiness,  but  also  in  that  it  re- 
wards incapacity,  and  unworthiness  better  than  any 
other  profession  does.  No  shoemaker,  no  tailor,  no 
mason,  no  woodchopper  finds  employment,  and  cus- 
tomers, if  he  does  not  know  his  trade.  But  in  the 
journalistic  trade  —  it  is  indeed  a  mere  trade  for 
most  of  them  —  every  thirsty  loafer,  every  unsuc- 
cessful clerk,  who  never  before  in  his  life  thought  of 
literature,  is  at  once  a  finished  "editor."  And  if  that 
sort  of  genius  has  once  taken  his  seat  upon  the 
"editor's"  chair,  he  becomes  a  "great  man"  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye.  What  of  modesty  there  may 
still  have  been  in  him,  what  of  possibility  to  learn, 
what  of  doubt  in  his  own  competency,  is  suddenly 
clean  blown  away;  he  is  superior  to  everybody,  re- 
pels every  sort  of  information,  advocates  every  stu- 
pidity with  the  consciousness  of  infallibility,  and 
drags  everything  into  the  mire  that  does  not  chime 
in  with  his  own  vulgar  conceptions,  or  his  party  ser- 
vility. But  the  trait  by  which  these  representatives 
of  German  intelligence,  and  German  language,  dis- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.          3*3 

tinguish  themselves  chiefly,  and  most  uniformly,  in- 
cluding even  the  more  highly  educated  among  them, 
is  the  sublime  brutality  with  which  they  deride  and 
combat  the  aspirations  and  rights  of  their  fellow 
beings  of  the  female  sex.  The  mere  consciousness 
that  they  belong  to  the  sex  that  supplies  the  prize- 
fighters and  cut-throats  makes  of  them  competent 
judges,  and  privileged  lords  over  everything  fem- 
inine. No  question  furnishes  a  better  and  surer  test 
of  a  man's  vulgarity  than  the  question  of  woman's 
rights;  and  since  the  true  rabble,  everywhere,  is 
wont  to  dilate  upon  it  con  amore,  and  with  complete 
liberty,  fearing  neither  the  police,  nor  the  bones  of 
the  weaker  sex,  it  is  a  tid-bit  with  which  this  scrib- 
bling rabble  tempts  the  appetite  of  its  readers,  by 
serving  it  with  a  sauce  piquante  of  beer-saloon  wit 
and  street-corner  esprit. 

Women  have  it  in  their  power  to  take  the  bread 
away  from  a  large  number  of  this  scribbling  rabble. 
I  know  that  many  of  them  are  driven  by  hunger, 
rather  than  viciousness,  to  lend  themselves  to  even 
the  lowest  kind  of  newspaper  work,  and  I  do  not 
wish  the  poor  wretches  any  harm.  Still  I  cannot 
agree,  even  apart  from  our  special  interests,  to  have 
the  press,  this  most  important  institution  for  the 
education  of  mankind,  used  as  a  mere  charitable  in- 
stitution for  every  poverty-stricken  incapacity  — 
that  ought  rather  to  turn  to  some  manual  labor  — 
and  degraded  by  every  low-minded  individual,  who 
is  willing  for  board  and  lodging  to  commit  treason 


314  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

against  all  intellectual  and  humane  interests  of  the 
race.  It  is  better  that  an  "editor,"  without  ability 
and  calling,  should  go  hungry,  than  that  the  minds 
of  thousands,  who  would  have  been  open  to  the 
influence  of  better  teaching,  should  be  mislead  and 
corrupted. 

All  women,  who  are  not  acquainted  with,  or  in- 
different to,  liberal  thought,  good  taste,  and  noble 
tendencies,  by  completely  banishing  from  their  cir- 
cles all  those  "intelligence  papers  that  are  not  papers 
of  intelligence,"  and  all  so-called  entertaining  litera- 
ture that  requires  nothing  of  the  publisher  but  bad 
taste,  a  mean,  mercenary  spirit,  and  indiscriminate 
reprinting,  ought  to  set  themselves  squarely  against 
them,  and  replace  them  by  radical  journals,  which 
combine  a  genuine  will  to  serve  minkind,  with  the 
ability  to  do  so.  What  we  need  is  to  adhere  strictly 
to  the  principles  of  universal  human  rights  and  keep 
them  pure;  to  expose  and  assert  truth  fearlessly  and 
unsparingly  on  all  sides;  to  keep  an  open  and  un- 
prejudiced mind,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  intel- 
lectual progress;  to  subject  all  questions  and  oc- 
currences in  public  life  to  independent  criticism;  to 
wage  relentless  war  against  all  baseness  and  corrup- 
tion; and  if  we  need  additional  intellectual  enter- 
tainment, let  it  conform  to  a  normal  taste,  possess 
real  intellectual  worth,  and  be  free  from  illiberal  or 
unworthy  tendencies.  But  where  do  we  find  all  this, 
where  can  we  find  it,  except  in  outspoken  radical 
papers,  which  are  as  independent  of  the  rabble  as  of 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  3*5 

party  service?  Let  no  woman  object  that,  in  favor- 
ing the  radical  press,  which  advocates  her  rights,  she 
might  come  into  collision  with  her  stronger  half. 
She  who  dreads  such  a  collision  is  not  fit  to  take 
part  in  our  struggle;  but  she  for  whom  such  a  col- 
lision would  assume  a  serious  character,  is  suf- 
ficiently matured  in  her  ideas  to  withdraw  herself 
entirely  from  every  collision  with  her  stronger  half. 
If  we  want  to  be  free  women,  let  us  show  it  first  of 
all  by  being  no  longer  afraid  of  the  unfree  men, 
whom  we  cannot  convert. 

The  motion  was  accepted  with  enthusiastic  ap- 
proval. 

Sixth  Motion — Women  in  general  never  cast 
greater  doubt  upon  their  intellectual  ability,  and 
never  furnish  their  opponents  with  a  better  weapon 
than  by  their  thoughtless  acquiescense  in  the  tyr- 
anny of  even  the  most  senseless  fashions,  and  by  the 
unscrupulous  vanity  with  which  they  spend  sums 
for  the  most  trivial  finery  that  could  furnish  them 
the  means  for  reforming  society.  It  is  therefore 
both  an  urgent  and  a  worthy  task  for  sensible 
women,  not  only  personally  to  emancipate  them- 
selves from  fashion,  and  to  set  the  example  of  wear- 
ing simple  and  tasteful  garments,  but  also  to  en- 
courage general  co-operation  in  such  reforms. 

K.  HEISTERBACH— The  subject,  to  which 
this  motion  calls  our  attention,  is  so  important  that 
I  am  almost  afraid  to  express  myself  upon  it,  since 
a  brief  elucidation  is  not  sufficient  to  place  it  in  its 


3 ib  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

proper  light,  and  it  would  fill  a  book  to  treat  of  it 
exhaustively.  Woman's  slavery  to  fashion  fur- 
nishes an  appalling  amount  of  matter  for  questions 
such  as  these. 

•Can  a  being  who,  without  choice  or  will  of  her 
own  allows  her  external  appearance  to  be  pre- 
scribed to  her,  have  a  sufficient  independence  of  char- 
acter to  act,  in  serious  matters,  according  to  her 
own  judgment  and  decision?  Can  a  being  be  con- 
sidered as  intellectually  responsible  who  is  immedi- 
ately reconciled  to,  and  eager  to  adopt,  the  most 
senseless  attire,  as  soon  as  others  set  a  bad  exam- 
ple? 

What  inner  worth  can  a  being  have,  who  is  so 
anxiously  and  continually  occupied  with  the  ex- 
ternal? 

Can  we  still  believe  the  feminine  sex  to  have  any 
of  that  aesthetic  faculty,  which  we  call  good  taste, 
when  we  see  how  stubbornly  it  adheres  to  the  most 
unbecoming  styles? 

Is  not  the  passion  for  fashionable  and  extrava- 
gant dress  a  chief  source  of  moral  ruin?  Does  not 
this  passion  supply  prostitution  with  as  many  vic- 
tims as  want? 

If  one  considers  how  infinitely  much  good  women 
might  do,  if  instead  of  spending  hundreds  of  millions 
on  the  most  trivial  finery  they  would  spend  these 
sums  for  their  children,  for  the  needy,  for  social  re- 
forms, for  intellectual  culture,  for  the  fine  arts;  in 
short,  for  all  those  purposes  which  are  in  accordance 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  3*7 

with  the  true  essence  of  noble  womanhood,  one 
must  resort  to  the  theory  of  a  complete  degeneracy 
through  habit,  in  order  not  to  charge  this  criminal 
extravagance  of  wealthy  women  to  innate  unscru- 
pulousness  and  depravity,  and  impeach  feminine 
nature  itself  as  entirely  inferior  and  mean. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  express  myself  upon 
all  these  points  in  detail  as  it  ought  to  be  done.  I 
must  content  myself  with  mere  suggestions  which 
will  surely  suffice  to  call  your  attention  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  question,  and  to  show  you  what  a 
great  problem  the  German  women  would  solve,  if 
they  would  lead  the  way  in  a  reform  of  woman's 
dress.  Should  we  accomplish  nothing  more  in  this 
country  we  could  regard  it  as  a  great  distinction  if 
the  people  on  the  street,  upon  seeing  a  simply  and 
tastefully  attired  lady,  would  have  to  say  "that  is  a 
German  woman,"  and  not  one  of  those  slaves  of 
fashion,  overloaded  with  bad  taste,  who  always  im- 
press me  as  so  much  walking  merchandise  looking 
for  a  buyer.  We  need  not  even  agree  on  the  cut 
of  the  garments,  or  the  combination  of  colors,  or  on 
any  detail  whatever,  if  we  only  observe  the  follow- 
ing principles : 

1.  The  beautiful  is  always  simple. 

2.  Gaudiness  is  never  beautiful. 

3.  The  garment  must  be  fitted  to  the  body,  not 
the  body  to  the  garment. 

4.  Excellence  of  quality  is  the  best  extravagance. 
Let  us  act  according  to  these  principles,  and  let 


3i 8  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

us  make  propaganda  for  them,  both  theoretically 
and  practically.  Those  who  abide  by  them  will  find 
that  they  will  not  only  fare  better,  from  an  econ- 
omic point  of  view,  but  that,  in  every  respect,  they 
will  make  a  better  impression  than  by  the  most  os- 
tentatious display.  It  is  a  mistaken  calculation 
when  girls  think  that  they  are  more  attractive  to 
men  in  a  conspicuous  and  extravagant  attire,  than 
in  a  simple  and  tasteful  garment.  Their  extrava- 
gance and  repudiation  of  good  taste  is,  therefore, 
useless,  even  in  that  respect.  When  this  is  appre- 
ciated, the  chief  reason  for  adhering  to  the  slavery 
of  fashion  falls  to  the  ground. 

MISS  SCHWARTENBACH— If  we  do  not 
soon  begin  to  act  in  accordance  with  this  motion 
our  sex  will  really  lay  itself  open  to  the  suspicion  of 
having  lost  its  common  sense,  or  of  celebrating  a 
perennial  carnival.  The  present  styles  are  indeed 
such  that  almost  every  woman  would  be  in  danger 
of  being  arrested,  if  public  offenses  against  sense 
and  good  taste  were  under  police  surveillance,  the 
same  as  offenses  against  public  morals  and  safety 
are.  If  I  had  the  power  I  would  put  an  end  to  these 
almost  scandalous  fashion  crazes,  by  not  only  plac- 
ing them  under  police  control,  but  by  proceeding 
against  them  in  court  in  a  manner  whereby  the  en- 
tire wardrobe  of  the  fair  delinquents  would  be  sub- 
jected to  investigation.  First  of  all  I  would  call 
those  photopihobiac  ladies  before  the  tribunal,  who 
give  their  heads  a  most  inhuman  shape  by  fastening 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.          3*9 

a  flat  plate  upon  it,  reaching  down  to  the  eyes,  and 
then  attaching  behind  this  plate  a  hairbomb  con- 
structed of  all  manner  of  suspicious  ingredients, 
which,  although  unexplosive,  is  most  disagree- 
able to  behold.  But  I  would  treat  those  monstrous 
fools,  who  think  they  have  changed  themselves  into 
ethereal  beings  by  the  addition  of  the  so-called 
"Grecian  bend"  still  worse.  A  more  shameless  and 
more  absurd  coquetry  with  the  pose  of  modesty 
than  this  disfigurement  has  never  yet  been  prac- 
ticed. All  the  lunatic  asylums  of  Christendom  can- 
not produce  the  equal  of  these  caricatures  of  woman- 
hood, who  think  they  are  making  themselves 
immensely  interesting  and  mythologically  roman- 
tic, if  they  defy  the  scorn  of  every  unsophisticated 
spectator, and,  with  abdomen  artificially  drawn  in,  an 
ostrich-like  appendage  in  the  rear,  and  stilts  under 
their  shoes,  trip  along  the  street  as  if  they  were 
afflicted  with  chronic  colic,  while  they  carry  their 
arms  before  them  like  kangaroos,  in  a  constant 
shielding  of  themselves  against  a  fall  on  their  nose. 
Recently  I  overheard  a  gentleman  remarking  to  an- 
other, as  one  of  these  monsters  of  fashion  passed  by: 
"She  is  caparisoned  like  a  horse,  but  has  the  saddle 
strapped  on  wrong  side  before."  This  is  undoubt- 
edly coarse,  thought  I,  but  nothing  could  be  more 
appropriate  than  if  every  word  would  change  itself 
into  a  tangible  lash,  to  drive  this  shameless  woman 
—  she  was  a  pretty  girl,  scarcely  more  than  seven- 
teen, and  her  suit  was  worth  at  least  two  hundred 


320  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

dollars  —  back  into  her  dressing  stable.  I  call  her 
shameless,  and  would  like  to  use  a  still  stronger  ex- 
pression, for  I  do  not  consider  anyone  who  can 
abuse  good  taste  and  common  sense  so  cruelly  be- 
fore all  the  world,  capable  of  true  morality.  A  sense 
of  the  beautiful  and  a  moral  sense  belong  together. 
I  consider  a  woman  with  a  "Grecian  bend"  capable 
of  anything  but  what  is  reasonable  and  humane. 
There  is  no  expression  of  public  opinion  that  a  being 
can  dread  who  has  stood  the  test  of  exposing  herself 
to  the  criticism  of  the  "Grecian  bend." 

Among  the  present  fashions  there  is  a  third  which 
might  be  called  a  heinous  offense  against  good 
taste,  and  the  ladies  who  adopt  it  can  justly  be  com- 
pared to  inverted  cabbages,  on  account  of  the  many- 
leaved  character  of  their  attire.  To  wear  a  simple 
dress  would  be  shocking  to  these  ladies.  Indeed, 
nobody  can  tell  what  is  the  real  dress,  there  are 
nothing  but  dress  fragments,  piled  one  upon  the 
other,  each  successive  one  shaped  and  draped  more 
idiotically  than  the  other,  and,  perhaps,  of  a  different 
color,  so  that  the  ideal  costume  seems  to  be  the  one 
made  up  of  the  most  senseless  accumulation  and 
mixture  of  rags  and  colors  imaginable. 

I  confess  I  am  ashamed  of  my  sex,  when  I  see 
thousands  of  women  parading  in  the  streets  and 
places  of  meeting,  day  after  day,  as  if  their  entire  oc- 
cupation and  aim  in  life  consisted  in  placing  them- 
selves on  exhibition,  loaded  down  with  all  sorts  of 
rags  and  absurd  finery  and  in  defying  the  criticism 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  321 

of  sound  common  sense.  Something  must  be  done 
to  put  an  end  to  this  absurdity,  this  shame,  this 
scandal.  So  long  as  women  were  satisfied  with  the 
honor  of  being  pampered  as  mere  elegant  dolls,  and 
amusing  playthings,  the  demands  made  upon  their 
reason,  even  with  regard  to  their  external  appear- 
ance, corresponded  to  this  lot;  the  sillier  the  better. 
Nobody  can  be  used  to  better  advantage  than  the 
fool.  But  since  the  word  goes  round  that  women 
are  also  human  beings,  and  as  rational  human  beings 
can  lay  claim  to  and  make  use  of  human  rights,  it  is 
high  time  that  they  doff  the  uniform,  so  to  speak, 
which  they  wore  in  their  former  state  of  servitude. 

I  vote  for  the  motion  and  suggest  that  both  the 
motion  and  the  debate  upon  it  be  separately  printed 
and  sent  to  all  the  votaries  of  fashion  whose  ad- 
dresses we  can  ascertain." 

Accepted. 

Seventh  Motion — Where  the  men  are  still  sub- 
jects, the  liberty  and  rights  of  women  are  entirely 
out  of  the  question.  Only  in  a  republic  is  there  any 
possibility  of  demanding  and  attaining  the  rights  of 
women.  An  address  ought,  therefore,  to  be  drawn 
up,  to  the  women  of  Germany,  in  which  the  cause  of 
their  degradation  is  made  clear  to  them  and  in  which 
they  are  exhorted  to  spur  the  men  on  toward  the  rev- 
olutionizing and  republicanizing  of  their  fatherland, 
and  to  bring  up  their  children  in  this  spirit. 

In  giving  the  reasons  for  this  motion,  attention 
was  called  to  the  sad  fact  that  in  the  fatherland  of 


322  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

idealism,  the  fatherland  of  Schiller  and  Goethe,  wom- 
an was  actually  more  deeply  degraded  and  less  re- 
spected than  in  any  civilized  country  in  the  world. 
Among  the  uneducated  classes  she  was  almost 
everywhere  looked  upon  as  a  servant,  and  a  beast  of 
burden,  and  if  it  is  reported  that  some  men  harness 
their  wives  to  the  plow,  together  with  the  cow,  the 
report  may  here  and  there  be  founded  on  actual 
truth;  but  the  exclusive  mission  of  "housewife," 
emphasized  by  the  educated  classes,  was  founded 
on  ideas  not  much  higher  than  the  above,  while 
every  more  extended  career  led  into  the  horrible 
realm  of  prostitution.  But  this  realm  owed  its 
population  chiefly  to  monarchy  and  its  servants, 
especially  to  the  standing  armies  of  idlers,  whose 
entire  object  and  occupation  it  was  to  oppress  men 
and  degrade  women. 

Accepted,  with  instructions  to  the  Secretary  to 
draw  up  an  appropriate  address  to  be  circulated  in 
Germany. 

This  ended  the  list  of  motions  and  propositions  by 
the  respective  committees.  Upon  the  President's 
question,  whether  any  one  else  had  any  suggestion 
to  offer,  Miss  Schwartenbach  arose  and  proposed 
the  following: 

Resolved,  The  vice  of  smoking  implies  a  disgrace- 
ful slavery  of  the  man  and  is  an  inconsiderate  insult 
to  the  woman  who  is  to  keep  him  company.  Be  it, 
therefore,  further 

Resolved,  that  we  will  not  only  shun  all  society  in 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  323 

which  tobacco  is  smoked  'but  will  not  invite  men 
who  are  subject  to  this  slavery,  and  carry  the  odor 
of  it  on  their  clothes  into  our  society. 

MISS  SCHWARTENBACH— I  have  limited 
my  resolution  as  much  as  I  could.  If  I  had  chosen 
to  express  my  whole  heart  on  the  subject,  it  would 
have  also  contained  the  determination  not  to  marry 
a  man  who  is  a  slave  to  this  odoriferous  tyrant  that 
oppresses  the  whole  masculine  world  in  the  form  of 
pipes  and  cigars.  But  I  refrained  from  making  this 
addition,  first,  because  I  was  afraid  of  subjecting  the 
courage  of  many  of  the  women  present  to  too  severe 
a  test,  and,  secondly,  because  I  did  not  wish  to  de- 
prive men  of  the  possibility  of  reforming  after  mar- 
riage. If  Goethe,  Schiller,  Lessing,  Napoleon, 
Frederick  II.,  Boerne,  Heine,  and  other  gifted  and 
aesthetically  inclined  men  had  not  redeemed  the 
honor  of  their  sex  by  their  disgust  for  the  pipe,  we 
would  be  actually  driven  to  make  the  disgraceful 
statement:  All  men,  especially  all  German  men, 
smoke,  or,  to  use  an  Aristotelian  phrase,  man  is  a 
smoking  animal.  But  how  are  they  to  be  broken  of 
this  habit?  They  are  generally  so  enslaved  to  and 
so  hardened  by  the  habit  of  smoking  that  we  cannot 
count  upon  them  themselves  for  any  revolution  or 
effective  opposition  to  the  vice.  That  it  injures  their 
health,  that  they  waste  their  money  in  smoke,  that 
they  offend  good  taste,  that  they  declare  war  against 
the  aesthetic  sense,  that  they  deny  reason,  that  they 
make  themselves  the  slaves  of  a  senseless  habit;  all 


324  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

these  things  have  been  told  them  hundreds  of  times, 
without  having  the  least  effect  on  them.  They  can 
hope  for  recovery  only  when  we  come  to  their  res- 
cue, and  we  cannot  do  that  in  any  more  effective 
manner  than  by  forcing  them  to  do  without  our 
society,  if  they  will  not  do  without  tobacco.  But  this 
passive  resistance  is  at  the  same  time  the  best  way 
to  guard  our  own  interests.  It  is  not  only  to  relieve 
ourselves  from  the  physical  suffering,  to  which  we 
are  exposed  by  the  horrid  stench,  the  fumes  that 
take  away  our  breath,  the  smoke  that  makes  our 
eyes  smart,  and  all  the  other  abominations  which 
accompany  the  operation,  but  also  from  the  moral 
degradation  of  subjecting  our  persons,  without  hesi- 
tation and  without  regard  to  an  ordeal  of  self-abne- 
gation against  which  our  whole  nature  rebels  for  the 
sake  of  a  coarse  male  amusement.  When  I  see  a 
woman  sitting  in  the  company  of  men,  enveloped  by 
tobacco  smoke,  I  feel  that  she  is  denied,  insulted, 
sacrificed.  She  gives  me  an  impression  of  vulgarity 
or  self-degradation,  and  a  feeling  of  contempt,  be- 
cause she  endures  or  even  enjoys  without  protest  an 
atmosphere  entirely  antagonistic  to  womanliness. 

In  the  interest  of  both  sexes,  and,  I  may  add,  in 
the  interest  of  marital  happiness,  I  recommend  the 
adoption  of  my  resolution. 

JULIE  VOM  BERG— I  am  willing  to  cast  my 
vote  for  any  expedient  that  can  possibly  break  men 
of  the  tobacco  vice.  Fortunately  our  German  men 
have  not  yet  sunk  so  low  as  to  adopt  the  American 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  325 

vice  of  chewing  tobacco  —  a  "pleasure"  that  dis- 
gusts even  savages.  Instead  of  that  they  achieve 
almost  superhuman  feats  in  the  art  of  smoking  to- 
bacco. And  how  does  that  come  about?  Simply 
through  imitation.  The  youthful  lord  of  creation 
sees  the  adult  lord  of  creation  with  a  stump  in  his 
mouth,  and,  accordingly,  puts  a  stump  into  his  own 
mouth,  that  he  may  feel  himself  the  equal  of  his 
senior.  If  fathers  would  refrain  from  smoking,  this 
savage  diversion  would  never  occur  to  the  sons.  It 
is  only  the  example  that  leads  them  to  do  it.  To 
harden  his  nature,  as  early  as  possible  to  vices  which 
no  quadruped  could  endure,  seems  to  the  young 
biped  a  means  of  speedily  becoming  a  man.  Just 
because  these  fumes  are  disgusting,  and  the  nicotine 
abominable,  and  the  whole  a  most  unnatural  piece 
of  business,  which  tests  the  senses  and  the  nerves  to 
the  utmost,  therefore,  it  may  be,  the  young  look 
upon  it  as  a  sort  of  heroism,  which  carries  them  in 
one  stride  over  years  of  development,  to  the  full 
estate  of  man;  and  thus  one  generation  of  heroes 
fumes  and  spits  the  next  into  existence,  and  people, 
who  have  not  been  inured  to  such  a  barbaric  atmos- 
phere, and  have  not  been  entirely  deprived  of  their 
aesthetic  feeling,  must  needs  escape  into  solitude,  to 
save  themselves  from  the  persecutions  of  these  to- 
bacco heroes. 

Whatever  is  created  by  mere  habit,  and  not 
through  a  natural  necessity,  can,  in  its  turn,  be 
made  to  yield  to  habit.    All  that  is  necessary  is  to 


326  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

realize  that  the  habit  in  question  is  an  evil  and  to 
have  the  will  to  be  free.  Fortunately  there  still  are 
some  men  who  hate  the  vice  of  smoking  as  much 
as  we  do,  and  we  can  appeal  to  them,  should  we  be 
accused  of  egotism.  Besides,  men  know  better  how 
to  steep  their  tobacco-steeped  fellows  in  shame. 
Permit  me  to  read  you  an  article  from  "Der  Pio- 
nier,"  in  which  an  enemy  of  smoking  attacks  an 
habitual  smoker  who  claims  to  have  discovered  that 
smoking  is  an  intellectual  entertainment,  a  sort  of 
substitute  for  thinking. 

"Whoever  is  so  thoughtless/'  we  read,  "that 
smoking  can  take  the  place  of  thinking  for  him, 
simply  sleeps  with  open  eyes,  and  ought  to  be  able 
to  sleep  just  as  well  without,  as  with  a  stump  in  his 
mouth.  Is  the  Turk  a  thinker?  He  will  laugh  at 
you  if  you  suspect  him  to  be  one,  and  yet  he  is  the 
hardest  and  most  enduring  smoker  in  the  world. 
Whoever  imitates  him  in  this  respect  must  not  be 
surprised  if  he  is  put  on  an  intellectual  level  with 
the  Turk.  If  you  read  a  paper  at  home,  or  chat  with 
your  family,  or  play  a  game  of  chess  or  whist,  are 
you  not  as  well  entertained  as  when  you  hold  an 
odious  stick  between  your  lips  and  blow  odious 
fumes  into  the  air  that  irritate  your  eyes?  I  have 
never  yet  found  a  man  who  could  explain  wherein 
the  enjoyment  of  smoking  really  consisted;  but 
neither  have  I  ever  found  a  smoker  who  was  not  a 
downright  slave  to  this  undefinable  enjoyment.  The 
entire  enjoyment  consists  in  a  thoughtless  illusion 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  3*7 

and  habit,  which  has  such  a  dehumanizing  effect 
that  the  smoker  not  only  loses  his  aesthetic  sense, 
but  actually  his  five  senses  as  well;  he  no  longer 
feels  how  the  smoke  effects  his  eyes,  no  longer  sees 
how  disgustingly  the  tobacco  juice  soils  his  fingers 
and  lips,  he  does  not  hear  how  idiotic  this  continual 
puffing  sounds,  he  does  not  smell  the  disagreeable 
odor  of  this  Indian  perfume,  and  he  does  not  taste 
the  diabolical  flavor  of  the  noxious  herb.  A  mag- 
nificent enjoyment,  indeed,  that  one  can  fully  ap- 
preciate only  after  having  lost  both  his  reason  and 
his  five  senses  together.  And  a  great  many  of  the 
members  of  that  sex  which  calls  itself  the  strong  sex, 
purchase. this  enjoyment  with  the  ruin  of  their 
health  and  their  finances.  If  Cleopatra  dissolves  a 
precious  pearl  in  a  glass  of  wine  and  drinks  it,  I  can 
understand  the  sense  of  this  nonsense;  I  can  also 
understand  why  Lucullus,  on  special  occasions, 
serves  a  dish  of  peacocks'  tongues,  or  another  gas- 
tronomic genius  devours  carps  that  have  been  fed 
on  human  flesh.  But  how  a  man  can  spend  half  a 
dollar  or  even  a  dollar  for  a  roll  of  stinking  herb, 
which  he  tosses  about  between  his  unsavory  lips  for 
five  minutes,  puffing  and  cutting  up  faces  the  while, 
to  throw  the  chewed  half  out  of  the  window,  I  can- 
not understand.  And  yet  there  are  multitudes  of 
such  monsters.  They,  of  course,  smoke  a  cheaper 
variety,  but  since  their  front  chimney  is  puffing  all 
day  long,  they  do  not  escape  more  cheaply  in  the 
end,  than  those  insane  aristocrats  of  the  tobacco 


328  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

mania.  We  may  assume  that  smoking,  on  the  aver- 
age, costs  as  much  as  drinking,  and  while  the  one 
gulps  the  sustenance  of  a  family  down  his  throat, 
the  other  puffs  it  into  the  air  as  smoke.  And  if  the 
family  could  but  in  the  least  participate  in  this  so- 
called  enjoyment!  But  there  is  no  more  egotistical 
'entertainment'  than  smoking;  it  not  only  excludes 
every  second  person  from  sharing  in  it,  it  actually 
drives  everyone  who  is  not  hardened  to  it  to  seek 
safety  in  flight.  A  drinker  can  at  least  offer  his 
glass  to  his  wife,  but  no  smoker  would  lend  his  nasty 
weed  to  his  wife,  even  if  she  were  so  unrefined  as  to 
share  his  loathsome  taste." 

Another  article  signed  "J.  Oelkopf,"  upbraids  the 
tobacco  barbarians  still  more  emphatically. 

"However  ridiculous  it  may  seem,"  says  Mr.  Oel- 
kopf, "I  shall  advance  a  new  theory  of  development 
that,  for  me,  contains  a  profound  truth,  superficial 
and  paradoxical  as  it  may  appear.  My  theory  is: 
So  long  as  men  smoke  tobacco  they  are  not  free  and 
cannot  become  free. 

"I  have  just  attended  a  meeting  of  German  rad- 
icals. I  feel  as  if  I  were  in  a  paroxysm  of  sea-sick- 
ness. My  smarting  eyes  water.  I  cannot  breathe; 
whenever  I  move  I  am  threatened  with  an  attack  of 
vomiting,  my  clothes  are  saturated  to  my  very  skin 
with  the  odor  of  the  disgusting  weed,  the  use  of 
which  we  have  learned  from  the  joyless,  bestial  sav- 
ages, and  all  my  female  friends  flee  from  me  as  from 
a  monster.    And  why  is  all  this?    Because,  in  def- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  329 

erence  to  my  principles,  I  felt  obliged  to  attend  a 
meeting  of  men,  who  call  themselves  free,  and  rad- 
ical, but  who  are  neither  free  enough  in  themselves 
to  refrain  for  an  hour  from  the  fuming,  stinking 
weed,  nor  liberal  enough  towards  others  to  save 
them  from  the  necessity  of  undergoing  this  un- 
bearable, nauseating  torture  in  the  interests  of 
liberty.  To  see  those  fellows  sit  there,  as'  if  under 
orders,  tossing  the  tobacco  stick  about  between  their 
lips,  with  the  most  important  air  in  the  world,  raising 
their  enraptured  eyes  to  heaven,  to  puff  out  the  stink- 
ing fumes,  as  a  whale  throws  up  water,  and  filling 
the  room  with  smoke  so  thick  that  one  is  tempted 
to  grasp  it  and  form  it  into  balls  to  throw  at  the 
smokers,  and  knock  the  sticks  out  of  their  distorted 
mouths!  O,  how  often  have  I  had  the  desire  to  seal 
people's  mouths  with  court-plaster  when  they  were 
talking  nonsense!  But  the  desire  is  still  stronger 
when  they  use  their  mouths  as  a  crater  for  their 
suffocating,  eye-destroying  pestilent  fumes. 

"The  tobacco-smokers  are  themselves  slaves  and 
tyrants  to  others.  Is  not  he  a  slave  who  cannot  live, 
not  even  discuss  liberty,  without  an  indulgence, 
which  is  not  a  necessity  of  nature,  and  has  become 
bearable  only  through  habit?  And  is  not  he  a  tyrant, 
who,  in  his  indulgence,  has  not  the  least  regard  for 
others,  to  whom  it  is  utterly  intolerable,  but  who, 
from  social  considerations  and  circumstances,  are 
obliged  to  be  in  his  company?  If  the  mere  circum- 
stance of  a  man's  enjoying,  or  being  addicted  to  a 


330  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

thing,  gives  him  the  right  to  indulge  himself  with- 
out regard  for  others,  then  all  good  manners  and  all 
decency  cease,  and  every  sin  against  aesthetics  is 
permissible. 

"Enjoyments  and  needs  agree  with  liberty  only 
when  they  are  natural  necessities  and  justified  by 
reason,  i.  e.,  when  they  are  aesthetic  and  not  in- 
jurious.   But  the  smoking  of  tobacco  is : 

"i.  Not  a  natural  necessity. 

"2.  Known  to  be  injurious  to  the  health  of  the 
mind  as  well  as  of  the  body. 

"3.  Unaesthetic  in  the  highest  degree,  in  that  it 
affects  in  the  most  disagreeable  manner  the  sense 
of  smell,  the  sense  of  taste,  and  also  (through  the 
grimaces  of  the  executing  artist,  as  well  as  by  the 
visible  traces  on  his  mouth,  his  hands,  his  dress,  and 
the  floor)  the  eyes  of  every  not  utterly  callous  per- 
son. 

"Whoever,  therefore,  cannot  dispense  with  this 
'pleasure'  consciously  acts  contrary  to  his  reason,  is 
not  free  in  the  use  of  it,  and  makes  himself  the  slave 
of  a  habit  that  is  a  sin  against  nature,  against  health 
and  against  aesthetics.  How  can  such  a  weakling 
call  himself  a  free  man? 

"But  the  inconsiderateness  with  which  these  puf- 
fing tobacco-chimneys  victimize  others  is  their 
greatest  condemnation.  I  have  been  present  in  com- 
panies of  "respectable"  Germans,  where,  with  truly 
boorish  obtuseness,  ladies,  to  whom  tobacco  smoke 
was  actual  poison,  have  been  expected  to  endure 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  33* 

hours  of  torture  without  a  minute's  respite  from  the 
barbaric  fuming,  puffing,  spitting  and  nauseating 
stench.     Is  it  thus  that  liberty  is  to  be  understood 
and  practiced?     If  indecency  and  vulgarity  towards 
others  is  liberty,  what  then,  pray,  is  tyranny?     Our 
'free'  men  talk  so  much  of  'culture.'     Is  there  no 
incongruity  between  tobacco  smoking  and  culture? 
"By  right  of  habit  tobacco  smoking  has  come  to 
be  a  legitimate  means  of 
"Slavery  among  the  free. 
"Tyranny  among  liberators, 
"And  vulgarity  among  the  cultured. 
"How  can  any  one  who  is  not  able  to  free  even 
himself  from  so  unnatural,  so  disgusting  and  so  in- 
jurious a  need,  be  expected  to  have  the  necessary 
insight  and  strength  to  remain  faithful  in  other 
things,  to  reason,  liberty  and  the  beautiful. 

"Therefore,  I  repeat,  so  long  as  men  smoke  to- 
bacco they  are  not  free  and  can  not  become  free." 

Now  let  me  read  you  one  more  communication 
from  a  woman  who  has  something  to  say  about  the 
effect  of  this  Oelkopf  article,  an  effect  which  we 
would  rejoice  to  observe  on  all  men,  who  still  have 
enough  reason  and  strength  left  to  renounce  a  vice 
which  has  nothing  to  justify  it. 

"Mr.  Oelkopf  has  laid  the  colors  on  thick,  in 
order  to  demonstrate  the  nastiness  and  injurious- 
ness  of  tobacco-smoking;  but  whoever  loves  truth 
cannot  gainsay  him,  and  I  agree  with  his  assertion : 
'So  long  as  men  smoke  they  are  not  free  and  cannot 


332  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

become  free.'    But  I  beg  permission  to  add  a  few 
points  which  he  seems  to  have  forgotten. 

"My  husband  is  a  good  and  most  excellent  man, 
and  an  enthusiastic  champion  of  liberty.  At  the 
same  time  he  is  so  fortunate  as  to  possess  sufficient 
pecuniary  means  to  live  free  from  special  care.  He 
has  carefully  systematized  his  expenditures,  and 
spends  annually  for  liberal  journals,  the  support  of 
free  thought  projects,  etc,  three  hundred  dollars. 
His  cigars  and  pipes  cost  him  annually  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  dollars,  exactly  twenty-five 
dollars  more  than  liberty.  And  what  does  he  gain 
from  them?  For  the  three  hundred  and  twenty-five 
dollars,  he  does  more  harm  to  his  health  than  I  ven- 
ture to  estimate.  I  have  realized  it  long  ago,  and  his 
physician  likewise,  who  has  repeatedly  reproached 
him  with  it;  but  what  was  I  to  do?  Everybody 
knows  how  hard  it  is  for  a  wife  to  deny  any  pleas- 
ure, especially  if  this  pleasure  only  costs  money,  and 
his  other  needs  are  few,  to  the  man  she  loves.  I 
suffered  physically  and  morally  from  this  hobby  of 
his,  although  I  never  betrayed  myself,  in  order  not 
to  appear  egotistical,  and  he  himself  never  suspected 
it.  Only  now,  after  reading  the  article  of  Mr.  Oel- 
kopf,  his  attention  was  aroused,  and  he  asked  me 
whether  the  smoke  and  odor  of  the  tobacco  was  dis- 
agreeable to  me,  too?  I  confessed  that  the  torture 
the  weed  caused  me  was  as  great  as  my  anxiety  for 
the  injury  he  was  doing  to  his  health.  It  was  just 
on  my  birthday.    'From  to-day  on,'  said  my  hus- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS  333 

band,  /not  another  cigar  will  touch  these  lips.'  I 
never  had  a  more  valuable  birthday  present  given  to 
me,  and  I  feel  no  less  grateful  to  Mr.  Oelkopf  for 
it  than  to  my  husband.   - 

"  'But  what,'  I  asked  him,  'are  you  going  to  do 
with  the  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars 
now?'  'Presumably,'  he  answered,  'I  am  now  going 
to  have  a  better  appetite  and  will  make  greater  de- 
mands upon  your  larder.  I  shall  also,  now  and 
then,  feel  like  drinking  a  bottle  of  wine.  I  shall 
allow  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  for  this. 
The  remaining  two  hundred  dollars  I  place  at  your 
disposal  for  the  cause  of  liberty.' 

"I  cannot  sufficiently  express  to  Mr.  Oelkopf 
how  happy  this  resolve  made  me.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  I  could  not  help  thinking,  what  great  means 
liberty  would  have  at  its  command  if  all  the  smokers 
who  are  its  champions  would  turn  the  money,  which 
they  have  hitherto  puffed  into  the  air  in  the  form  of 
tobacco  smoke,  into  a  liberty  fund!  What  a  great 
change  could  be  brought  about  in  the  world  by  the 
general  resolution  to  renounce  tobacco  in  favor  of 
liberty!  And  what  a  great  pecuniary  loss  this  would 
be  to  despots!  Does  not  despotism,  in  Europe,  as 
well  as  in  America,  live  to  a  great  extent  from  to- 
bacco? The  Italians  stopped  smoking  in  order  to 
ruin  the  Austrians.  Shall  we  not  try,  in  America,  to 
ruin  the  slave-holders  of  Virginia  and  Cuba  by  ban- 
ishing their  tobacco?  It  would  be  a  double  gain  for 
liberty;   an  immense  increase  of  the  sinews  of  war 


334  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

and  at  the  same  time  an  immense  falling  off  of  the 
means  of  the  enemy.  Really,  when  one  thinks  of 
this  result,  and  considers  how  easily  it  might  be 
attained,  and  must  live  to  see  that  nobody  is  inter- 
ested in  it,  he  can  justly  exclaim:  'So  long  as  men 
smoke  tobacco  they  are  not  free  and  cannot  become 
freef 

"The  friends  of  liberty  in  all  countries  ought  to 
distinguish  themselves  by  ceasing  to  smoke,  and  by 
contributing  their  tobacco  money  henceforth  to  lib- 
erty !  I  would  venture  to  begin  a  new  era  from  the 
day  when  this  resolve  would  go  into  practice.  Very 
well,  then,  show  that  you  are  men,  like  my  husband; 
from  the  226.  of  February,  the  birthday  of  Washing- 
ton, no  enemy  of  slavery  and  no  friend  of  revolution 
ought  any  longer  to  smoke ! 

"Another  advantage  which  Mr.  Oelkopf  has 
passed  over,  consists  in  the  increased  ability  to  think, 
the  restoration  of  the  mind.  My  husband  confessed 
to  me  that  he  invariably  stopped  thinking  when  he 
began  to  smoke,  and  that  this  was  the  chief  enjoy- 
ment which  the  vice  afforded  him.  What  a  con- 
fession, what  weakness!  A  man  whose  chief  pride 
ought  to  be  his  ability  to  think,  strives  to  escape 
thought  by  means  of  a  poison !  And  what  does  he 
exchange  it  for?  I  asked  my  husband:  'What  did 
you  think  as  a  man  if  you  did  not  think  as  a  smoker? 
In  what  did  the  "pleasure"  exist,  if  by  depriving 
you  of  thought,  it  deprived  you  of  the  means  of  be- 
coming conscious  of  the  "pleasure?"    What  occu- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  335 

pied  your  mind  while  you  sat  there  staring  at  the 
wall,  tossing  the  cigar  about  between  your  lips, 
puffing  the  smoke  to  the  ceiling,  knocking  off  the 
ashes  against  the  edge  of  the  table,  to  begin  anew 
and  puff,  and  making  a  round  hole  of  your  mouth 
for  the  smoke  to  escape  in  circles  into  the  air?' 

"He  answered:  'So  long  as  my  nerves  had  not 
become  completely  obtuse  the  tobacco  induced  a 
sort  of  intoxication,  during  which  I  could  give  my- 
self up  to  indefinite  phantasies.  That  was  especially 
the  case  after  dinner  when  the  body  was  inclined  to 
indolence,  anyway,  and  the  energy  of  the  mind  had 
relaxed.  It  was  the  natural  indolence  of  digestion, 
rendered  romantic  by  the  listlessness  of  artificial 
stupidity.  Later  this  effect  ceased,  and  the  dullness 
came  of  its  own  accord,  by  the  mere  belief  that  the 
tobacco  would  cause  it.  Smoking  had  become  a 
mere  matter  of  thoughtless  and  purposeless  habit, 
and  I  would  no  longer  have  known  that  I  was  smok- 
ing at  all  if  I  had  not  seen  the  smoke  before  my  face. 
But  now  the  smoke  became  the  chief  thing;  I  im- 
agined that  it  was  entertaining,  a  comfort,  a  "pleas- 
ure" to  blow  the  smoke  into  the  air.  Therefore,  I 
practiced  the  art  of  blowing  smoke  with  variations ; 
now  I  would  blow  the  smoke  from  the  middle  of 
the  mouth,  now  from  the  right,  now  from  the  left 
corner,  now  through  the  nose.  Then  again  I  would 
expel  it  while  I  held  the  cigar  between  my  lips,  and 
the  next  time  I  would  take  the  cigar  in  my  hand. 
Yes,  I  even  learned  to  make  an  essential  difference 


336  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

between  the  smoke  that  I  blew  away  immediately, 
after  I  inhaled  it,  and  that  which  I  retained  in  my 
mouth  for  a  quarter  of  a  minute.  But  the  greatest 
pleasure  was  to  take  a  very  long  pull  and  then  to  puff 
out  my  entire  stock  of  smoke  in  perfect  rings,  so  that 
it  made  a  chain  of  ever  larger  and  larger  rings,  up 
to  the  ceiling.  It  is  self-evident  that  during  this  en- 
tire performance  no  thought  could  approach  within 
a  distance  of  ten  miles.  Vacancy  within  me,  and 
nothing  but  smoke  before  me  —  that  was  the  world 
of  my  thought,  and  after  smoking  for  several  hours 
it  took  several  more  hours  before  the  smoke  had 
dissipated  before  my  mind.' 

"This  confession  actually  frightened  me.  It  is 
dreadful  to  think  of  a  man  in  his  best  years,  a  man 
of  intellect  and  character,  a  man  that  we  can  respect 
and  love,  in  a  condition  of  childishness,  even  of 
idiocy.  Whenever  I  think  of  tobacco  now  I  think  of 
idiocy,  and  whenever  I  see  an  otherwise  presentable 
man  with  a  'tobacco  sausage'  in  his  mouth  I  say  to 
myself:  'I  wonder  how  this  man  looked  when  he 
still  had  his  reason,  when  he  still  saw  the  light!'  " 

STUDENT  SCHWARTENBAGH— I  second 
my  sister's  motion  with  all  my  heart.  When  she  ex- 
posed me  to  public  disgrace  in  the  meeting  day  be- 
fore yesterday  I  left  the  hall  with  the  determination 
to  revenge  myself  thoroughly.  But,  after  I  had 
thought  the  matter  over  calmly,  I  realized  that  the 
best  revenge,  and  one  that  would  be  most  likely  to 
be  in  accordance  with  my  own  interests,  would  be 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  337 

to  resolve  to  reform.  (Bravo,  from  all  si'des.)  In- 
stead of  scolding  my  sister,  I  am,  on  the  contrary 
grateful  to  her  that  she  took  this  opportunity  to  use 
a  most  drastic  and  energetic  method,  when,  hitherto, 
she  had  exhausted  all  remonstrances  and  admoni- 
tions in  vain.  For  the  crime  that  I  committed  in 
this  assembly  I  now  atone,  with  the  confession  that 
the  method  has  proved  effective,  and  with  the  prom- 
ise that  never  again  shall  either  pipe  or  cigar  touch 
my  lips.  (Bravo.)  I  have  always  been  for  woman's 
rights.  I  am  glad  that  I  also  give  you  an  oppor- 
tunity to  exercise  them,  especially  the  right  to  free 
men  from  their  evil  habits,  assumptions,  vulgarities 
and  vices. 

General  clapping  of  hands.  The  motion  is  ac- 
cepted. 

After  all  the  propositions  were  disposed  of,  the 
President  closed  the  transactions  with  the  following 
farewell  address : 

IDA  JOH.  BRAUN— Permit  me  to  make  a  few 
closing  remarks  concerning  the  question  which  has 
been  the  subject  of  our  transactions.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion of  such  transcendent  importance  that  even 
among  those  who  advocate  it,  perhaps  the  very 
fewest  are  able  to  realize  its  entire  scope.  In  the 
race's  struggle  for  development,  hitherto,  the  issue 
has  always  been  between  hostile  forces  within  the 
masculine  half  of  humanity,  of  which  the  feminine 
half  was  merely  a  passive  appendage,  always  sharing 
the  fate  of  the  former.     Now,  at  last,  the  feminine 


338  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

half  has  come  to  a  consciousness  of  its  own  rights, 
and  likewise  begins  to  take  an  active  part.  However, 
its  struggles  are  not  within  its  own  ranks  as  are 
those  of  the  masculine  half,  but  against  this  latter, 
which  opposes  it  as  a  hostile  force.  It  is  a  separation 
of  the  two  halves  of  humanity  that  belong  together. 
Six  hundred  millions  of  women  stand  opposed  to  six 
hundred  millions  of  men  to  claim  only  through  a 
small  number  of  pioneers,  as  yet,  recognition  as  hu- 
man beings.  As  human  beings,  I  say,  for  only  he 
is  of  value  as  a  human  being  who  is  his  own  master 
and  law-giver.  To  the  extent  to  which  I  deny  rights 
to  a  man,  which  I  myself  possess  and  exercise,  to  that 
extent  do  I  degrade  him  as  man  below  myself.  To 
deny  him  all  rights  would  be  to  degrade  him  com- 
pletely to  the  level  of  the  brute.  What  the  feminine 
half  of  humanity  has  hitherto  possessed  of  so-called 
rights  does  not  deserve  the  name,  because  women 
did  not  themselves  determine  them,  nor  were  they 
able  to  maintain  them.  They  were  only  a  gift  of 
mercy,  and  arbitrary  power,  presented  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  giver  himself. 

What  women  want  now  is  to  change  this  gift  of 
grace  not  only  into  their  own  achievement,  but  to 
extend  this  achievement  so  far  as  to  annihilate  every 
difference  that  exists  between  their  rights  and  the 
rights  of  men.  They  demand  that  since  there  has 
hitherto  existed  only  a  male  right,  there  should  now 
at  last  be  established  a  human  right  which  excludes 
no  one,  and  no  longer  metes  out  uneven  measure 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  339 

to  anyone.  This  is  the  greatest,  the  most  comprehen- 
sive progress  after  which  human  aspirations  have  so 
far  aimed,  and  to  misapprehend  this  is  possible  only 
to  the  blindness  of  an  ancient  habit,  and  a  hardened 
egotism,  that  sees  in  a  hoary  privilege  the  immuta- 
ble decree  of  nature.  This  universal  prejudice,  so 
old,  and  so  deeply  rooted,  which  has  erected  a  barrier 
'between  the  two  halves  of  humanity,  must  be  over- 
thrown by  a  revolution  that  will  create  a  new  ethical 
consciousness,  but  a  revolution,  which,  although  it 
is  directed  against  a  wrong  sustained  only  by  force, 
will  for  the  first  time  give  an  example  of  a  peaceful, 
purely  intellectual  resistance.  Six  hundred  million 
women  are  fighting  with  purely  intellectual,  humane 
weapons  against  six  hundred  mil'lion  men,  and  will 
conquer  them,  that  they  may  change  themselves  as 
well  as  their  opponents  into  truly  humane  beings. 
Was  there  ever  a  struggle  more  interesting  than 
this? 

I  know  that  our  aspirations  will  also  meet  with 
opposition  from  some  women,  but  they  are  irre- 
sponsible, by  their  numbers,  as  well1  as  by  their 
qualities.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  in  Paris,  after 
the  storming  of  the  Bastille,  several  of  the  prisoners, 
instead  of  rejoicing  in  their  liberty,  begged  to  be 
returned  to  the  prison.  Long  habit  had  so  dulled 
them  and  estranged  them  from  the  external  world 
that  the  prison  atmosphere  had  become  their  vital 
air.  In  a  somewhat  similar  manner  some  of  the 
negroes  in  the  South,  after  the  emancipation,  pre- 


34°  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

ferreci  their  slavery  to  the  liberty  of  which  they 
never  had  had  any  conception.  Women  who  oppose 
their  emancipation  belong  to  the  same  class,  but  are 
just  as  exceptional  in  civilized  countries  as  the  ne- 
groes and  prisoners  just  mentioned.  We  may  there- 
fore rest  assured  that  the  opposition  we  have  to  face 
comes  from  the  men.  Although  I  can  very  well  un- 
derstand this  opposition,  I  am  nevertheless  tempted 
to  exclaim:  "Forgive  them,  they  know  not  what 
they  do."  Indeed,  they  are  not  aware  of  the  vul- 
garity they  evince  by  denying  us  that  which  they  un- 
hesitatingly grant  to  the  most  degraded  of  their  own 
sex;  they  do  not  know  how  they  expose  their  intel- 
lectual and  moral  deficiencies  when  they  betray  and 
deny  all  the  principles  and  arguments  in  our  case, 
which  they  promulgate  and  emphasize  in  their  own ; 
and  finally  they  do  not  know  that  it  is  treachery  to 
themselves  to  prevent  us  from  doing  our  share  to- 
wards ennobling  and  humanizing  their  own  lives. 

What  I  am  here  saying  holds  good  especially  of 
German  men,  for  the  Americans  have  outstripped 
them  in  this  question  by  half  a  century.  When  do 
you  ever  hear  an  American  dispose  of  woman's 
rights  by  such  vulgar  witticisms  as  are  customary 
among  the  German  spokesmen  of  their  sex?  And, 
if  our  local  legislatures  were  constituted  of  Germans, 
how  long  would  we  still  have  to  wait  until  such  im- 
portant minorities  would  appear  in  behalf  of  our 
emancipation,  as  have  already  appeared  in  several 
Western  legislatures?     But    the    majority   of   our 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  341 

German  men,  however  ostentatiously  they  flaunt 
the  flag  of  "radicalism,"  cannot  yet  quite  divest 
themselves  of  the  spirit  of  servility.  Descended  from 
a  country  where  the  degradation  of  both  men  and 
women  was  systematically  eonducted  by  three  dozen 
courts,  through  a  million  agents  of  vulgarity, 
throughout  every  stratum  of  society,  where,  natur- 
ally, the  stronger  of  the  oppressed  found  a  sort  of 
consolation  or  diversion  in  the  assumption  of  su- 
periority over  the  weaker  of  the  oppressed  —  some- 
what after  the  manner  the  "Democratic"  party  slaves 
in  this  country  deported  themselves  as  a  sort  of  lord 
over  the  negro  slaves  —  and  where  the  contempt  for 
women  as  subordinate  beings  created  only  for  the 
service  and  lust  of  men  was  bred  into  them  from 
childhood  in  an  infected  moral  atmosphere,  although 
now  emancipated  from  their  prince,  these  one-time 
subjects  cannot  yet  emancipate  themselves  from 
themselves,  and  while  they,  as  superior  minds,  dic- 
tate our  "sphere"  to  us,  they  are  not  aware  that  it 
is  only  the  degenerate  spirit  of  the  creature  of  roy- 
alty, the  student,  the  musketeer,  the  philistine,  that 
asserts  itself  in  them.  In  the  officer's  clubs,  the 
beer-houses,  the  guard-rooms,  and  the  students'  inns 
on  the  other  side  of  the  water  the  question  of 
woman's  rights  is  probably  treated  in  exactly  the 
same  manner  as  here  by  the  German  newspaper 
writers,  and  popular  leaders. 

I  regret  this,  I  am  ashamed  of  it,  for  the  sake  of 
the  German  name,  which  is  boasted  of  so  much, 


342  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

whenever  the  talk  is  of  "ideas,"  "principles,"  "hu- 
manity," and  "radicalism."  But  I  am  not  so  faint- 
hearted as  to  fear  that  our  aims  could  be  frustrated 
by  this  vulgar  opposition  of  the  German  subject. 
No,  this  movement,  because  it  is  based  upon  reason 
and  right,  will  overcome  every  obstacle,  and  will  not 
rest  until  its  last  demand  is  fulfilled,  exactly  as  in  the 
question  of  negro  rights.  And  exactly  like  this  will 
be  its  practical  course,  after  the  victory  of  the  prin- 
ciple has  once  been  acknowledged;  the  sanguine 
will,  therefore,  be  as  much  disappointed  as  the  whin- 
ers.  The  negroes,  after  attaining  the  suffrage,  did 
not  all  immediately  turn  politicians  and  hasten  to 
the  polls  in  a  body  in  order  to  rule  the  state,  neither 
will  the  women  immediately  come  in  multitudes  to 
take  part  in  political  life;  the  emancipated  negroes 
do  not  now  claim  the  daughters  of  their  former  mas- 
ters as  wives,  or  turn  communists,  as  some  brilliant 
"Democrats"  had  feared;  neither  will  the  emanci- 
pated women  change  into  masculine  beings,  and 
sacrifice  their  domesticity.  Their  pioneers  will  have 
to  continue  to  break  the  way,  after  the  attainment  of 
the  suffrage,  as  well  as  before,  and  only  very  gradu- 
ally will  the  participation  in  public  life  become  gen- 
eral. At  the  same  time  nature  will  continue  to  assert 
her  rights,  in  private  or  family  life,  as  hitherto,  but 
according  to  humane  agreement,  and  not  by  a  one- 
sided dictatorship.  Thus  gradually  a  condition  of 
society  will  be  developed  that  has  sacrificed  nothing 
that  was  good  and  tenable,  but  that,  by  abolishing 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  343 

the  privilege  of  the  stronger  sex,  ceases  to  cripple 
the  weaker  and  enriches  a  nobler  life  with  the  fruits 
of  free  co-operation. 

I  feel  actual  compassion  with  the  shortsightedness 
that  does  not  foresee  all  this.  But  we  must  not  allow 
our  activity  to  flag  on  this  account  any  more  than  we 
must  allow  ourselves  to  be  overcome  with  indigna- 
tion at  the  vulgarity  we  meet.  The  honor  of  the 
feminine  sex,  yes,  of  the  entire  human  race  is  at 
stake,  and  it  is  of  vital  importance  what  part  the  Ger- 
man women  play  in  its  redemption.  Even  if  we 
should  never  be  able  to  make  use  of  the  rights  for 
which  we  fight,  merely  to  attain  them  is  worth  the 
struggle  of  a  lifetime.  As  I  have  already  intimated, 
the  most  immediate  issue  to  be  decided  is  whether 
we  are  human  beings ;  it  is  necessary  to  establish  a 
new,  comprehensive  conception  of  humanity;  it  is 
necessary  to  legally  establish  the  abstract  truth  that 
we  are  sovereign  members  of  the  human  race,  as 
well  as  the  men,  equipped  with  the  right  of  self- 
determination  and  self-government;  that  one-half 
of  this  human  race  is  not  born  and  destined  to  be 
under  the  tutelage  of  a  foreign  will,  and  used  like 
children,  or  even  like  animals.  If  we  have  once 
attained  to  the  recognition  of  our  sovereign  human 
dignity,  all  practical  reform  will  become  a  matter  of 
course.  With  this  recognition  we  have  reached  the 
turning  point,  and  that  part  of  humanity,  to  whom 
we  must  be  an  example  here  in  America,  will  enter 
upon  the  path  of  true,  universal  humanity.     The 


344  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

accession  of  women,  the  weakest  part  of  society,  in- 
capable of  using  force,  to  the  common  rights  of 
men  and  citizens,  will  form  the  keystone  of  the 
edifice  of  the  humane  state. 

With  this  confidence  in  a  beautiful  future,  I  close 
the  transactions  of  our  convention,  which,  it  is  to 
be  hoped,  will  not  remain  without  influence  upon  the 
thought,  and  the  aspirations,  of  the  German  women 
of  this  country. 

When  the  members  of  the  convention  were  on 
the  point  of  separating,  a  committee  of  the  German 
radicals  of  Frauenstadt  appeared  upon  the  scene, 
with  an  invitation  to  a  farewell  reception  and  ball  for 
the  evening. 

The  President  accepted  the  invitation  with  the 
following  words: 

"I  do  not  fear  to  meet  with  any  opposition  if  I 
accept  this  cordial  invitation  of  our  male  sym- 
pathizers, in  the  name  of  the  entire  assembly;  but 
with  the  following  condition :  Among  the  privileges 
which  men  have  hitherto  possessed  and  asserted  was 
that  of  entertaining  the  ladies  at  parties  and  balls  and 
of  asking  them  to  dance.  The  gentlemen  who  have 
now  tendered  us  this  invitation  are  no  usurpers  of 
power,  but  as  members  of  the  male  sex  they  are 
accustomed  to  the  above  privilege  like  all  the  rest. 
In  any  case,  it  can  do  no  harm  to  let  them  feel,  for 
once,  how  it  is  to  be  disqualified.  Therefore,  we 
want  to  make  this  condition,  that  the  roles  be 
changed  this  evening,  and  that  the  ladies  entertain 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  345 

the  gentlemen,  and  ask  them  to  dance.  Every  gen- 
tlemen who  acts  contrary  to  this  condition  commits 
a  breach  of  etiquette,  and  for  punishment  is  not 
asked  to  dance." 

The  invitation  was  accepted  with  this  condition. 
The  new  order  of  things  proved  a  great  success  that 
evening,  and  all  were  agreed  that  they  had  never  on 
a  similar  occasion  enjoyed  themselves  so  much. 
Several  American  ladies,  who  were  present,  were  of 
the  opinion  that  things  were  managed  in  a  more 
humane  and  more  social  manner  at  a  German  con- 
vention of  women  than  at  an  American  convention, 
and  declared  that  they  would  hereafter  try  to  intro- 
duce the  German  fashion. 

Thus  closed  the  first  convention  of  German 
women  in  America. 


346  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 


CONCERNING  WOMANHOOD  AND  MAN- 
HOOD. 

(A  Lecture.    1873.) 

In  the  treatment  of  my  subject  the  question  arose 
with  which  sex  I  should  make  the  beginning,  to 
which  I  should  give  precedence.  The  answer  to  this 
question  would  not  embarrass  me  if  I  were  to  con- 
sult merely  my  taste  or  the  injunctions  of  "gallantry." 
My  hesitation  arises  from  the  story,  especially  the 
Christian  story  of  the  origin  of  the  sexes.  The  Bible, 
the  source  of  the  prevailing  wisdom  and  knowledge, 
accords  priority  to  man,  and  traces  the  descent  of 
woman  directly  from  him,  from  one  of  his  ribs.  Not- 
withstanding the  high  authority,  however,  on  which 
such  genesis  is  based,  it  does  not  seem  to  me  reason- 
able, for  the  simple  reason  that,  according  to  general 
belief,  man  and  woman  are  made  to  love  each  other. 
Montaigne  says:  "I  should  not  like  to  be  a  woman 
because  I  could  no  longer  love  her  then,"  and  Lady 
Montaigne  declared  that  "the  only  reason  why  she 
should  not  wish  to  be  a  man  is  that  she  would  then 
have  to  marry  a  woman."  How  then  could  a  woman 
have  any  charm  for  a  man  if  she  were  formed  out  of 
his  bodily  substance?  Conceive  of  Adam  kissing 
Eve,  after  having,  only  yesterday,  carried  her  about 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.          l\l 

him  as  a  rib.  And  then  the  vexing  rib  as  such!  I 
have  sought  in  vain  to  trace  the  meaning  of  the 
Biblical  origin  of  woman,  and  could  explain  it  only 
if  man  belonged  to  those  beings  whose  best  part  is 
the  cutlet.  Perhaps  this  interpretation  is  also  ad- 
missible, that  the  Bible  meant  to  convey  the  impres- 
sion that  man's  need  of  woman  was  so  great  that  he 
would  even  "cut  her  out  of  his  ribs,"  as  we  say, 
rather  than  do  without  her.  But  in  that  case  it  would 
have  been  more  poetical  and  aesthetic  to  cut  her  out 
of  his  heart;  however,  at  the  time  the  Bible  was 
written,  aesthetics  was  as  yet  in  a  bad  way. 

The  male  origin  of  woman  is,  therefore,  untenable, 
and  if  anyone  insists  on  adhering  to  it,  I  would  agree 
with  him  only  if  he  meant  to  indicate  thereby  that 
man  lost  his  most  human  part  when  woman  was 
separated  from  him,  and  that  that  is  the  reason  why 
he  has  remained  as  brutal  and  barbaric  as  he  still 
shows  himself  to  be  on  the  average.  Lessing  says: 
"Nature  wished  to  make  of  woman  her  masterpiece. 
But  she  made  a  mistake  in  the  clay;  she  took  too 
fine  a  quality."  The  fineness  of  the  clay  is  certainly 
not  one  of  man's  defects;  in  that  respect  we  shall 
still  have  to  make  the  most  strenuous  efforts  in  or- 
der to  become  masterpieces.  I  attribute  the  fable 
of  the  paradisiacal  genesis  to  the  domineering  ar- 
rogance, with  which  man  always  condemns  the 
weaker  sex  to  dependence,  and  would  even  have  it 
believe  that  it  is  indebted  to  him  for  its  very  exist- 
ence.    I,  therefore,  consider  that  interpretation  of 


348  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

the  Biblical  story  of  the  origin  of  woman  as  the 
most  correct  one,  which  sees  in  it  the  most  striking 
expression  of  masculine  egotism  and  despotism; 
in  order  to  condemn  woman  to  the  most  complete 
dependency  upon  himself,  he  traces  her  origin  to 
his  own  sex,  but  at  the  same  time,  the  cowardly 
barbarian  is  not  ashamed,  in  the  story  of  the  "fall 
of  man,"  to  shift  his  own  guilt  on  the  shoulders  of 
his  own  creature.  The  Christian  myth  of  the  origin 
of  Eve  corresponds  to  the  Grecian  myth  of  the  birth 
of  Pallas,  the  goddess  of  wisdom,  from  the  head  of 
Zeus,  who,  on  his  part,  manifested  his  chief  wisdom 
by  shaking  his  locks,  by  the  noise  of  thunder  and 
lightning,  and  occasionally  by  amorous  adventures 
with  the  daughters  of  the  earth.  But  the  noble 
Greeks,  however,  greatly  they  sinned  against  woman 
elsewhere,  at  least  did  her  the  honor  to  let  the  source 
of  her  intelligence  be  the  brain  of  the  highest  God, 
while  the  vulgar  Bible,  out  of  a  masculine  bone, 
creates  a  being  possessing  so  little  intelligence  that 
she  must  call  a  serpent  and  an  appletree  to  her  aid, 
to  make  the  man  understand  that  she  is  a  woman. 
If  both  sexes  did  not  come  into  existence  simul- 
taneously, or  were  formerly  united  into  one,  if  one 
is  to  claim  priority  before  the  other,  then  this  pri- 
ority must  be  granted  to  the  woman,  by  the  logic  of 
development,  and  if,  according  to  the  most  recent 
theory  of  development,  man  has  evoluted  from  the 
ape,  it  certainly  was  the  female  ape  who  first  smiled 
a  human  smile,  and  who  weaned  her  forest-mate 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  349 

from  grinning  and  showing  his  teeth.  Even  Chris- 
tianity cannot  refrain  from  correcting  the  Biblical 
genesis  by  the  story  of  the  Virgin,  who,  without 
human  aid,  brought  into  the  world  the  noblest  of 
men,  according  to  the  Christian  conception.  Where 
is  the  man  who  would  attempt,  without  the  aid  of 
a  woman,  to  bring  a  Virgin  Mary  into  the  world? 

Let  us  therefore  place  woman  first,  and  let  us 
prepare  ourselves  by  a  reflection  upon  womanhood 
for  an  adequate  examination  of  manhood.  But  the 
object  of  this  reflection  cannot  be  to  merely  em- 
phasize the  difference  between  the  two  sexes;  the 
object  is  rather  to  find  the  characteristic  traits 
through  which  each  sex  presents  itself  in  its  ideal 
character,  its  greatest  perfection;  in  other  words,  to 
learn  to  know  the  ideal  woman  as  well  as  the  ideal 
man.  This  task  presents  the  peculiar  difficulty  that 
it  cannot  be  solved  in  an  objective  sense,  and  with- 
out partnership,  because,  although  both  sexes  are 
dependent  upon  each  other,  they  have,  in  spite  of 
their  belonging  together,  different  interests  and  dif- 
ferent points  of  view.  In  truth,  man  and  woman  can 
only  be  judged  objectively  by  a  neuter.  But  since 
we  have  not  yet  reached  this  neutrality,  since  all  that 
is  possible,  to  us,  is  the  peculiar  point  of  view  of  the 
one  sex  with  regard  to  the  other,  since  neither  sex 
exists  for  itself,  but  each  for  the  sake  of  the  other,  or 
has  significance  only  with  relation  to  the  other, 
therefore  this  relationship  alone  ought  to  determine 
the  judgment,  so  that  woman  would  be  the  com- 


35°  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

petent  judge  of  true  manhood,  and  man  the  com- 
petent judge  of  true  womanhood.  It  is  a  futile  at- 
tempt to  investigate  why  this  dualism  of  the  sexes 
must  exist,  and  if  it  were  not  possible  to  have  an 
organic  world  without  this  division;  the  fact  is  that 
the  organic  world  does  consist  of  male  and  female 
beings,  who  could  not  and  would  not  exist  without 
each  other,  and  a  sex  "in  itself"  and  "for  itself," 
without  relation  to  the  other,  is  no  more  to  be 
thought  of  than  a  thing  in  itself  or  for  itself.  There- 
fore, it  is  proper  for  each  of  the  two  parts  to  decide 
what  qualities  the  other  ought  to  have,  in  order  to 
meet  its  expectations.  According  to  this  I  ought  to 
be  content  to  express  my  opinions  only  on  true 
womanhood,  and  to  leave  the  judgment  of  my  own 
sex  to  a  representative  of  the  other.  But  since,  ac- 
cording to  various  signs,  there  is  danger  that  a  great 
part  of  the  male  sex,  at  least  of  the  German  tongue, 
is  about  to  disappear,  and  all  the  world  seems  will- 
ing to  leave  it  to  its  fate,  I  must,  even  in  the  interest 
of  the  female  sex,  include  the  male  in  my  observa- 
tions, and  do  my  duty  in  attempting  to  come  to  its 
rescue. 

Another  difficulty,  besides  the  one  resulting  from 
sexual  one-sidedness  that  stands  in  the  way  of  find- 
ing an  ideal  of  universal  validity,  is  the  diverging 
conceptions  of  various  nations  and  finally  of  the 
single  individuals.  Every  nation  has  a  different  ideal 
of  womanhood,  and  among  the  individual  men  each 
one  will  be  inclined  to  make  that  woman  his  ideal 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  351 

with  whom  he  happens  to  have  fallen  in  love.  An 
average  ideal  of  manhood  could  be  established  with 
much  greater  ease  than  one  of  womanhood.  If  a 
vote  could  be  taken  on  the  matter,  then  surely  a 
bearded  biped  in  uniform,  that  is,  a  trained  homicide, 
skull-splitter,  or  first-class  blood-and-iron  man, 
would  receive  the  majority  among  men.  But  which 
woman  would  receive  the  majority,  whether  it  would 
be  the  Virgin  Mary  or  the  not  Virgin  Venus,  I  can- 
not tell  in  these  Christian  times.  In  this  state  of 
helplessness  I  am  thrown  upon  my  own  taste,  and  if 
I  follow  this  I  have  the  encouraging  consciousness 
that  in  at  least  one  important  particular,  namely  in 
regard  to  nationality,  my  judgment  is  no  prejudice. 
Let  Olympia  —  in  order  to  give  a  name  to  the  ideal 
woman  —  speak  German,  or  French,  or  English,  or 
Italian,  or  Spanish,  I  shall  honor  her  equally  if  Only 
she  unites  within  herself  those  qualities  which  make 
of  her  the  model  female  of  the  human  species. 

Even  without  being  a  materialist,  I  would  have  to 
begin  with  the  physical  personality  in  order  to  sketch 
the  model  female  of  the  human  species,  and  the  first 
physical  requirement  is,  of  course,  beauty.  But 
what  is  beauty?  Even  if  all  the  artists  and  philoso- 
phers, all  the  painters,  sculptors  and  poets  came  to 
my  aid,  I  would  not  be  able  to  determine  absolutely 
and  exactly  what  feminine  beauty  consisted  of. 
Shall  I  study  it  in  Raphael's  Madonna,  or  in  the 
Venus  of  Medici?  Neither  of  the  two  would  call  out 
my  enthusiasm  if  I  saw  them  bodily  before  me.    This 


352  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

spirituality  may  infatuate,  this  sensual  charm  may 
intoxicate,  but  only  intellect  can  inspire.  As  often 
as  I  visit  a  picture  gallery  I  am  astonished  at  the 
lack  of  intellect  and  imagination  that  most  painters 
display  in  the  choice  of  their  subjects.  Why  has 
none  of  them  yet  had  the  idea  of  painting  a  modern 
Venus,  that  is,  a  model  woman,  who  represents  those 
qualities  which  the  perfected  taste,  the  superior  con- 
ception of  womanhood,  and  the  more  liberal  views 
of  a  new  era  attribute  to  a  female  ideal,  not  only  in 
the  physical  form,  but  also  in  the  expression  of  the 
face?  Artists  have  'never  been  wanting  in  the  rep- 
resentation of  blameless  physical  forms,  any  more 
than  they  have  been  hampered  for  want  of  models, 
both  living  and  copies;  but  where  is  the  painter  or 
sculptor,  who  has  created  a  face  that  could  belong  to 
a  modern  Venus,  that  is,  to  a  woman  in  whom  the 
greatest  physical  charm  was  united  with  the  highest 
expression  of  intellectual  endowment.  That  such  a 
work  of  art  has  <not  yet  been  created  is  due,  in  my 
opinion,  not  only  to  a  paucity  of  artistic  imagination 
but  also  to  the  position  of  woman  up  to  the  present 
time.  Whoever  studies  the  statues  of  the  antique 
Venus  carefully  must  at  once  be  struck  by  the  mean- 
inglessness  x>f  the  face  which  shows  itself  especially 
in  the  unintellectual  forehead,  a  significant  fact  for 
the  thoughtful  observers.  The  Greeks  looked  upon 
and  treated  woman  in  general  as  a  subordinate  be- 
ing that  existed  only  for  the  gratification  of  male 
desires.    Therefore,  physical  charms  had  to  furnish 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  353 

the  chief  points  of  excellence  in  their  feminine  ideal. 
For  did  they  not  designate  the  girdle  of  the  goddess 
of  love  as  the  seat  of  her  charms,  and  even  give  her 
the  surname  of  Kallopygos,  by  which  they  glorified 
the  beauty  of  her  back?  An  expressive  and  intel- 
lectual face  did  not  harmonize  with  the  conception 
of  a  slave.  Venus  might  be  a  ruler  in  so  far  as  she 
could  subdue  men  by  her  physical  charms;  but  she 
must  be  a  slave,  like  all  women,  in  so  far  as  she 
was  not  allowed  to  be  intellectually  equal  to  man, 
and  thus,  as  an  equal,  to  make  the  same  claims  upon 
him  as  he  made  upon  her.  In  my  opinion  the  con- 
temptuous conception  of  woman  in  Grecian  myth- 
ology is  nowhere  brought  out  more  significantly 
than  in  the  choice  of  a  husband  for  the  beautiful 
Venus.  According  to  human  and  aesthetic  logic 
it  ought  to  have  married  her  to  Apollo,  the  god  of 
beauty  and  of  light ;  but  instead  of  that,  it  gave  her 
to  his  direct  opposite,  the  god  of  ugliness  and  dark- 
ness, the  blacksmith  Hephaestos,  or  Vulcan,  whose 
only  qualification  for  a  husband  consisted  in  his 
ability  to  forge  chains.  To  be  sure,  the  sentiment 
of  justice  and  common  sense  tried  to  correct  this 
incongruity  by  allowing  Venus  to  seek  compensa- 
tion in  the  society  of  Mars,  Bacchus,  and  other 
friends;  but,  after  all,  the  antique  goddess  of  beauty, 
and  of  love,  never  really  advanced  beyond  the  posi- 
tion of  a  slave  or  a  prostitute,  be  she  called  Urania 
or  Vulgivaga.  Wherever  the  mythology  of  the  an- 
cients accorded  to  woman  a  higher,  an  intellectual 


354  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

position  or  function,  it  left  out  love.  Its  goddess 
of  wisdom  was  even  a  cold,  inaccessible  virgin. 
Who  would  nowadays  hold  up  a  woman  as  a  model 
of  wisdom  who  does  not  or  cannot  love?  A  woman 
without  love,  or  ability  to  love,  inspires  as  little 
interest  as  a  man  without  valor  and  without  aspira- 
tion. But  as  I  have  said  before,  woman's  love 
ought,  according  to  the  more  worthy  conceptions  of 
our  age,  not  meet  the  passion  of  man  passively,  with- 
out intelligence,  and  without  will;  but  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  her  equal  sovereignty  and  dignity,  she 
ought  to  demand  and  exchange  choice  for  choice, 
passion  for  passion,  devotion  for  devotion,  adora- 
tion for  adoration.  But  such  a  position  can  be 
thought  of  only  as  coupled  with  gieat  intellectual 
endowment.  Nevertheless  the  artists  of  our  time 
still  adhere  to  the  models  of  antiquity,  whose  addi- 
tional characteristic  is  that  they  celebrate  feminine 
beauty  more  through  sculpture  than  through  paint- 
ing, presumably  because  the  former  can  better  satis- 
fy the  sensual  taste,  by  its  plastic  physical  form, 
while  the  latter,  with  the  same  facial  expression  of 
intellectual  insignificance,  can  produce  only  a  very 
unsatisfactory  effect.  Were  I  to  offer  any  sugges- 
tions to  an  artist,  concerning  the  creation  of  a  mod- 
ern Venus,  they  would  be  something  like  the  fol- 
lowing: 

For  the  physical  form,  as  far  as  the  head,  you  may 
choose  among  the  customary  models,  if  you  will 
avoid  excessive  length  of  fingers,  sloping  shoulders, 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  355 

and  the  famous  swan's  neck  —  beauties  of  which 
only  a  lover  of  consumption  can  approve.  Do  not 
study  only  the  conditions  of  beauty,  but  also  those 
of  health,  even  of  strength,  in  so  far  as  it  is  compat- 
ible with  grace.  Do  not  choose  a  decidedly  national 
type,  above  all  not  a  too  northern  character,  and 
not  a  blonde  Thusnelda.  The  northern  element  is 
more  typical  of  the  masculine,  the  southern  of  the 
feminine  character.  But  for  both  a  blending  of  the 
two  is  the  foundation  and  condition  of  elevation  and 
perfection.  Let  your  picture  have  brown  eyes  and 
black  hair;  if  you  make  the  eyes  blue,  then  let  the 
color  of  the  hair,  eyebrows  and  eyelashes  be  a  dark 
blonde,  approaching  to  black.  The  complexion 
must  not  incline  toward  yellow  or  brown,  but  must, 
in  spite  of  the  dark  hair  and  dark  eyes,  betray  the 
predominance  of  rosy,  Caucasian  blood.  Spare  the 
red  on  cheeks  and  lips,  but  be  not  sparing  of  intel- 
lectual expression  in  the  shape  of  the  eyes,  the 
mouth  and  the  forehead. 

Would  not  a  picture  of  this  sort,  derived  from 
the  most  advanced  civilization  and  executed  by  a 
Praxiteles  or  Apelles  of  our  time,  to  represent  the 
modern  Venus,  make  a  different  impression  than 
the  sea-born  Venus  of  the  ancients?  Would  she  not 
be  a  nobler  and  more  timely  object  of  adoration 
than  the  unintellectual,  comfortless  and  joyless 
Madonna?  Would  it  not  give  a  higher  tone  to  the 
culture  of  the  beautiful?  Would  it  not,  as  the  fem- 
inine   ideal,  help    to    elevate   woman    in    general? 


356  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

Would  not  the  idea  of  personifying  the  goddess  of 
love,  in  union  with  intellectual  endowment,  give  to 
love  itself  a  higher  sanction  and  help  to  destroy  the 
dominant,  although  not  openly  avowed,  conception, 
according  to  which  love  and  intellect  do  not  agree 
with  each  other  in  woman?  Does  not  the  concep- 
tion, which  men  in  general  entertain  of  the  destiny 
of  woman,  presuppose  her  intellectual  inferiority? 
Do  they  not,  even  where  they  adore  her  beauty  and 
loveliness,  secretly  look  upon  her  intellect  either 
with  contempt  or  with  jealousy?  There  is  no  true 
beauty  which  is  not  permeated  with  intelligence, 
and  there  is  nothing  more  glorious  in  the  world  than 
a  beautiful  woman  of  intellect.  But  how  many  men 
have  enough  intellect,  masculine  and  humane  intel- 
lect, not  to  fear  the  feminine  intellect  where  they 
extol  and  demand  feminine  beauty?  Are  not  most 
of  them  inclined  to  attach  the  suspicion  of  unwom- 
anliness  to  the  intellectual  endowments  of  a  woman, 
merely  because  their  instinct  tells  them  that  a  gifted 
woman  can  and  must  lay  claim  to  a  higher  position, 
and  greater  respect,  than  that  of  a  slave  to  man? 
"The  eternal  womanly  draws  us  on" — thus  declaims 
every  hero  with  a  tuft  of  hair  under  his  nose.  A 
woman  could  answer  him:  "The  eternal  manly 
draws  us  down." 

If  I  have  so  far  coupled  true  womanliness  with 
physical  beauty  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  that 
the  former  could  not  exist  without  the  latter.  Two 
chief  requirements  of  true  womanliness  are  grace 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  357 

and  goodness,  and  both  can  suffice  without  physical 
beauty;  they  can  even  conciliate  one  with  homeli- 
ness, or  shall  I  say  that  they  actually  preclude  home- 
liness? Just  as  there  is  no  true  physical  beauty, 
without  the  expression  of  soul,  so  the  expression  of 
the  soul  can  compensate  for  the  lack  of  physical 
beauty.  These  two  indispensable  qualities,  grace 
and  goodness,  can  bestow  advantages  and  charms  to 
a  woman  under  circumstances  and  at  a  period  of  life 
when  a  man  sees  his  disappear  or  turn  into  their 
opposites.  There  are  few  fathers,  who,  at  an  ad- 
vanced age,  can  still  inspire  their  children  with  in- 
terest in  them,  while  the  filial  love  for  a  mother, 
especially  that  of  sons,  can  increase  with  her  age. 

On  this  occasion  I  should  also  like  to  protest 
against  the  prejudice,  confirmed  by  many  facts,  that 
the  physical  charms  of  a  woman  are  a  necessary 
condition  for  the  duration  of  man's  love.  To  be 
sure,  it  cannot  be  a  matter  of  indifference  to  any 
man,  whether  the  object  of  his  regard  retains  or 
loses  the  agreeable  appearance  which  she  possessed 
in  Schiller's  "beautiful  time  of  young  love;''  but  if 
he  cannot  fold  her  in  his  arms  as  tenderly  after  she 
has  become  the  emaciated  inmate  of  the  sickbed,  as 
he  embraced  her  on  the  bridal  couch,  then  he  lies 
when  he  asserts  that  he  ever  really  loved  her.  But  it 
is  a  sad  fact  that  most  men,  as  they  are  now  edu- 
cated, lose  the  capacity  for  true  love,  together  with 
the  true  respect  for  women,  before  they  have  had 
any  opportunity  to  test  this  love. 


358  THE  RIGHTS  OF   WOMEN 

So  far,  for  the  sake  of  realizing  a  picture  of  true 
womanliness,  I  have  taken  a  point  of  view  from 
which  intellectual  endowment  is  one  of  the  indis- 
pensable attributes  of  woman.  It  is  self-evident  that 
this  presupposes  all  the  accompanying  results  of 
intellectual  endowment,  such  as  participation  in  all 
the  achievements  of  education  and  science,  interest 
in  everything  that  is  good  and  beautiful,  the  taking 
of  an  active  part  in  the  humanization  of  human 
society,  the  noble  assertion  of  nature  and  truth  in 
manners  and  life.  Now  let  us  see  what  will  become 
of  our  ideal  picture  if  we  leave  our  point  of  view,  to 
step  down  into  the  street,  and  place  it  face  to  face 
with*  reality,  with  the  present.  To  the  great  annoy- 
ance of  our  musical  or  music-making  German  coun- 
trymen I  once  asked  the  question:  "Need  a  musi- 
cian have  brains?"  At  the  risk  of  incurring  the  ill- 
will  of  the  entire  fair  sex,  I  would  like,  in  reviewing 
the  great  majority  of  our  present  female  world,  to 
put  the  question:  "Must  a  woman  have  brains?" 
When  I  began  my  campaign  of  the  so-called  emanci- 
pation of  woman  in  New  York,  twenty-two  years 
ago,  a  German  woman  said  to  me:  "What  do  you 
want  with  this  emancipation?  We  women  do  not 
need  to  be  emancipated.  If  my  husband  beats  me,  I 
scratch  his  eyes  out."  Well,  this  woman  was  modest 
enough  to  consider  security  against  conjugal  blows 
as  sufficient  emancipation,  and  had  sense  and  cour- 
age enough  to  obtain  this  security  for  herself  by 
means  of  her  own  natural  weapons.    But  how  many 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  359 

are  there  not,  who  will  quietly  submit  to  the  blows, 
without  thinking  of  the  eyes  of  their  affectionate 
executioner,  and  who  nevertheless  consider  them- 
selves emancipated?  How  many  are  there  not  who 
have  never  thought  of  rights,  because  they  do  not 
know  what  to  do  with  them?  How  many  are  there, 
even  among  the  cultured,  who  have  brains  enough 
to  know  that  a  man  who  does  not  accord  to  his  wife 
equal  rights  with  himself,  in  all  things,  cannot  truly 
love  her?  But  then  these  are  domestic  affairs  be- 
longing to  the  department  of  the  interior.  Let  us 
step  outside  the  door,  and  look  at  these  candidates 
of  emancipation  on  the  street.  There  we  shall  be 
able  to  admire  feminine  brains,  especially  in  two 
of  its  appendages  by  which  women  strive  to  assist 
nature.  One  will  construct  a  monstrous  elevation 
on  her  head,  the  other  an  even  more  monstrous  ele- 
vation on  another  part,  which  nature  has  found  best 
to  deprive  of  the  ornament  with  which  it  has  embel- 
lished only  animals.  There  might  be  some  sense 
in  the  elevation  on  the  head,  as  indicating  a  desire 
to  enlarge,  at  least  externally,  that  member,  which 
is  known  as  the  seat  of  the  understanding,  and  this 
is  corroborated  by  the  fact  that  those  skulls  which 
contain  the  least  within  them  are  wont  to  be  loaded 
with  the  highest  structures.  But  the  passion  of 
women  to  increase  the  opposite  part  by  an  appen- 
dage is  all  the  more  incomprehensible,  because 
among  animals  it  is  the  male  sex  that  distinguishes 
itself  by  the  size  of  its  rear  ornaments,  as  we  can 


360  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

observe  in  the  turkey,  the  peacock,  and  other  tail- 
bearing  dignitaries.  What  is  to  become  of  our  views 
of  the  feminine  ideal,  if  we  see  even  the  model  speci- 
mens of  the  fair  sex  wander  about  the  streets,  the 
delicate  head  adorned  with  a  Babylonian  tower,  con- 
sisting of  a  collection  of  international  hair  and  in- 
fusoria, and  the  curved  model  back  ending  in  a  mys- 
terious elevation  of  drygoods  and  architectural  de- 
signs, moving  with  strange  contortions,  and  threat- 
ening changes  of  form,  before  which,  if  they  really 
were  a  part  of  the  person,  the  entire  male  sex  would 
flee  into  the  forest?  At  such  a  sight  the  question: 
"Must  a  woman  have  brains?"  involuntarily  changes 
into  the  question:  "Can  a  woman  have  brains?" 
And  yet  nobody  will  maintain  that  "there  is  nothing 
to  it."  Fairy  lore  has  told  us  of  mermaids  who  are 
women  above  and  fish  below;  but  without  straying 
into  the  realm  of  fancy  we  could  say  of  most  of  our 
landmaids,  they  are  grenadier  above  and  dromedary 
below.  And  to  complete  the  model  woman  as  a 
monstrosity  in  the  extreme,  she  also  drags  a  silk  or 
velvet  train,  of  several  yards,  along  her  earthly  pil- 
grimage, in  order  to  bring  home  with  her  into  her 
boudoir,  redolent  with  ^patchuli,  all  the  odors  and 
delicacies  of  the  public  thoroughfare.  George  Sand, 
Ninon  de  l'Enclos,  Heloise,  Aspasia  and  all  ye  other 
women  of  intellect  and  taste,  of  aesthetic  sense  and 
feeling,  save  me  from  despairing  of  your  living  sis- 
ters, who,  by  such  monstrous  deformities  and  con- 
cessions, voluntarily  and  assiduously,  without  com- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  3&i 

punction  and  without  shame,  prostitute  themselves 
into  thoughtless  and  vulgar  slaves  of  the  most  in- 
sane tyranny  of  fashion!  And  these  want  to  be 
emancipated?  Every  tower  of  hair,  and  every 
"bustle"  is  the  public  exhibition  of  a  protest  against 
emancipation! 

What  a  grand  triumph  for  the  opponents  of 
woman's  rights,  when  they  see  the  pre-eminently 
fair  sex  abjure,  not  only  all  common  sense,  but  also 
all  sense  of  the  beautiful  and  all  good  taste!  And 
what  humiliation,  what  an  embarrassing  position  for 
the  advocates  of  those  rights,  who,  with  the  claim 
for  equal  rights,  must  at  the  same  time  assert  and 
prove  equal  ability!  But  even  in  this  predicament 
comfort  and  encouragement  is  not  wanting.  For 
without  drawing  parallels,  without,  for  instance, 
contrasting  woman's  slavery  to  fashion,  her  passion 
for  finery  and  gew-gaws,  with  the  imitative  passion 
of  men  for  tobacco  fumes  and  playing  at  soldiers, 
and  thus  balancing  the  two  sides  of  the  scales,  or 
even  causing  them  to  fluctuate  in  favor  of  woman, 
we  must  admit  that  the  time  for  a  final  test  has  not 
yet  come  for  either  sex.  And  if  this  holds  of  man, 
who  could  assert  his  rights  and  choose  his  task  un- 
hampered, how  much  more  must  it  hold  of  woman, 
who  has  hitherto  been  without  rights  and  without 
self-determination,  and  who,  dragging  with  her  the 
inheritance  of  thousands  of  years  of  dependence 
and  degradation,  has  had  no  opportunity  to  arrive 
at  a  sovereign  consciousness  of  her  own  ability,  and 


3b2  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

could  only  become  what  man  either  directly  or  in- 
directly made  of  her  through  education  and  ruler- 
ship!  To  demand  qualities  and  to  pass  judgment 
on  qualities  in  a  state  of  slavery  which  only  liberty 
can  develop  or  destroy,  would  be  to  crown  injustice 
by  stupidity.  Only  the  free  woman  can  manifest  the 
true  nature  of  woman.  The  woman  of  the  future 
will  be  an  entirely  different  being  from  the  woman 
of  the  present.  What  she  may  once  be,  what  she 
may  strive  after  and  accomplish,  we  can  even  now 
realize  by  the  aid  of  the  example  given  us  by  several 
favored  natures,  and  by  the  contrast  between  free 
conditions  and  the  unfree  conditions  in  which  she 
moves  and  has  her  being.  What  a  difference,  for 
instance,  between  the  aspirations  and  achievements 
of  American  and  of  German  women!  Women, 
brought  up  in  the  philistine,  police  and  military  at- 
mosphere of  Germany,  have  no  idea  of  what  women 
undertake  and  accomplish  in  America.  Neither  can 
we  now  have  an  adequate  conception  of  that  which 
American,  and,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  also  German- 
American  women,  will  one  day  undertake  and  ac- 
complish, when  they  can  enter  every  arena  which  a 
free  government  opens  to  human  aspirations,  in  the 
full  possession  of  their  rights  and  independence. 
Let  us  not  be  afraid  that  in  an  atmosphere  of  liberty 
womanliness  will  disappear.  It  will  not  commit 
suicide  because  it  is  permitted  to  unfold  freely.  Op- 
pression, not  liberty,  destroys  true  womanliness,  as 
it  does  true  manliness.    This  so  frequently  expressed 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  3^3 

anxiety,  translated  into  sincere  language,  is  nothing 
more  than  the  fear  that  masculine  vulgarity  must 
retreat  before  the  civilizing  influence  of  woman.  In 
order  to  secure  its  existence  and  continued  sole- 
rulership,  this  vulgarity  strives  to  prevent  woman 
from  entering  public  life,  by  intimidating  her  with 
the  false  alarm  that  she  will  sacrifice  or  besmirch 
her  nobler  self,  by  associating  with  her  former  mas- 
ters on  a  plane  of  equality.  A  very  extraordinary 
way,  this,  of  making  the  calling  of  a  person  the  de- 
cisive judge  in  the  matter  of  the  exercise  of  human 
rights!  Is  it  not  strange  that  men  do  not  trust 
women  to  decide  for  themselves  what  is  womanly? 
Let  them  once  learn  to  recognize  and  appreciate 
the  true  woman  and  it  will  be  with  pride,  rather 
than  anxiety,  that  they  will  behold  woman  entering 
the  polls  or  the  halls  of  legislation  side  by  side  with 
them.  Before  the  woman  who  breaks  her  chains, 
before  the  free  woman  trembles  not  —  the  free  man. 
In  the  time  when  this  shall  have  become  the  de- 
sire, the  senseless  clamor  will  also  cease,  that  now 
still  arises  whenever  woman  tries  to  make  her  most 
personal  property,  her  emotions  and  affections,  her 
person  and  her  happiness,  independent  of  the  tyran- 
nical egotism  of  man,  by  asserting  that  inalienable 
right,  which  is  wont  to  be  called  "free  love."  There 
are  certain  ruling  prejudices  and  dogmas  of  habit, 
which,  being  favored  by  narrowmindedness  and 
hypocrisy,  take  on  the  character  of  a  moral  ban,  be- 
cause the  intellectual  arguments  which  could  give 


364  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

them  the  power  to  convince  are  wanting.  I  should 
like  to  designate  such  dogmas  and  prejudices  by 
the  general  name  of  rabble  philosophy,  and  to  this 
rabble  philosophy  belong  also  the  denunciations 
and  the  sham  indignation  against  "free  love."  "Free 
love"  can  surely  not  encounter  any  more  hostile  op- 
position than  it  meets  with  on  the  part  of  proprie- 
tors of  harems.  The  Sultan  of  Constantinople  will 
condemn  it  as  true  reprobateness,  as  a  danger  to  so- 
ciety, as  an  underminer  of  all  morality.  Among  the 
men  of  our  present  education  there  are  not  ten  in 
a  hundred  who  are  not  sultans  at  heart.  Under 
the  reign  of  free  love,  many  a  one  who  now  triumph- 
antly recites  the  list  of  Don  Juan,  would  sing  the 
sentimental  tune  of  "Lonely  am  I,  all  alone."  When 
I  hear  a  man  denounce  even  the  theory  of  free  love 
as  a  crime,  I  suspect  him  of  being  in  practice  a  friend 
of  free  lust.  Free  love,  rightly  understood,  is  noth- 
ing else  than  free  marriage,  that  is,  true  marriage; 
but  the  conception  of  such  a  marriage  completely 
excludes  those  abominations,  which  male  egotism 
and  male  corruption  try  to  connect  with  woman's 
free  choice,  in  order  to  keep  her  in  servitude  by  a 
false  idea  of  duty.  Whoever  wishes  to  bind  a  woman 
by  another  tie  than  that  of  her  free  love,  and  thinks 
of  deserving  this  love  by  something  else  than  his 
own  worthiness  and  reciprocal  affection,  is  as  much 
fool  as  despot,  and  has  no  idea  of  the  most  beautiful 
relationship,  for  which  nature  has  fitted  mankind. 
Having  always  treated  the  love  of  a  woman  in  a 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELAT10NS.  3^5 

domineering  manner,  as  a  matter  of  duty,  liberty 
alone  can  teach  men  the  meaning  and  the  price  of 
true  love.  The  free  woman  will  teach  them  to  re- 
gard that  as  a  reward  that  must  be  earned,  which 
in  the  unfree  woman  they  had  regarded  as  booty. 
With  the  liberation  and  elevation  of  woman  we 
liberate  and  elevate  ourselves.  Indeed,  I  would 
almost  say:  Only  in  so  far,  as  we  men  learn  to 
understand  and  appreciate  woman,  are  we  true 
human  beings.  The  full  wealth  and  the  complete 
significance  of  the  relationship  between  man  and 
woman  only  superior  individuals  have  hitherto  been 
able  to  grasp  and  to  represent.  We  must  look  to 
the  liberty  of  the  future  to  bring  it  into  more  general 
consciousness.  Love  is  more  than  the  desire  for 
sexual  union,  or  the  renewal  of  self  in  progeny; 
marriage  is  more  than  the  means  of  setting  up 
housekeeping  and  founding  a  family;  the  upward 
striving  toward  the  "eternal  womanly"  is  more  than 
a  dark  longing  for  an  object  that  may  agreeably 
occupy  the  emotions  and  the  imagination.  It  is  the 
longing,  equivalent  to  a  noble  life,  toward  the  per- 
fection of  our  being  through  the  union  with  a  being 
in  harmony  with  ourselves;  toward  the  complete 
satisfaction  of  our  personality  by  becoming  one  with 
another  personality,  by  a  blending  of  souls  that  per- 
fects both,  as  the  blending  of  two  metals  results  in  a 
third  that  is  superior  to  and  more  durable  than  either 
alone.  It  is  finally  the  need  that  every  nobler  indi- 
vidual feels  for  the  realization  of  the  ideal,  a  realiza- 


366  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

tion  which  we  look  for  in  vain  in  every  direction, 
and  Which  life  can  offer  us  nowhere  but  in  true  love. 
Whithersoever  a  man's  fancy,  his  discoveries,  or 
aspirations,  may  lead  him,  nothing  in  the  whole  do- 
main of  nature  can  take  the  place  of  the  relationship 
that  true  love  unfolds  to  two  thinking  and  harmoni- 
ous beings.  Such  a  double  life  alone  is  true  life. 
Place  man  into  nature  alone,  as  its  sole  ruler,  place 
all  its  secrets,  all  its*  pleasures  at  his  disposal,  make 
earth  into  a  paradise  or  a  heaven  for  him  wherein 
every  fabled  splendor  becomes  a  reality  —  still  he 
will  remain  a  stranger  in  his  great  realm,  he  will  feel 
forsaken  and  impoverished  with  all  his  riches,  he  will 
despair  in  all  his  wisdom,  his  thought  will  search 
through  all  the  spaces  of  the  universe  to  find  the 
something  that  he  lacks,  his  fancy  will  strive  to  fill 
out  the  deadening  void  with  the  pictures  of  that 
which  he  longs  for,  and  he  will  arraign  nature,  who 
has  lavished  her  gifts  upon  him  with  the  supplicating 
reproach ,  take  everything  from  me,  wherewith  you 
have  vainly  sought  to  bless  me,  and  give  me  instead 
that  which  you  have  denied  me,  the  best,  the  most 
indispensable  gift  of  all,  give  me  a  woman ! 

And  if  nature  sihould  then  grant  his  wish,  and  he 
should  hold  in  his  arms  the  object  of  his  desire, 
would  it  be  with  the  Christian  barbaric  greeting,  I 
will  be  "your  master,"  that  he  would  receive  her? 

Let  us  now  turn  from  the  pre-eminently  "fair"  to 
the  pre-eminently  "strong"  sex.  The  appellation 
itself  indicates  that  as  grace  is  considered  the  chief 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  3^7 

attribute  of  womanliness,  so  strength  is  considered 
the  chief  attribute  of  manliness.  But  what  is 
strength  and  which  strength  is  of  the  right  kind? 
Here  we  find  ourselves  placed  before  a  delicate 
question.  It  must  be  answered  relentlessly,  even  if 
the  answer  should  be :  What  is  considered  by  most 
men  to  be  manly  strength  is  nothing  but  animal  na- 
ture, brutality  and  barbarity. 

As  in  the  case  of  woman,  so  let  us  in  the  case  of 
man  begin  with  the  physique.  But  the  chapter  on 
beauty  I  must  here  skip  entirely,  since  in  this  re- 
spect we  can  count  upon  the  indulgence  of  women, 
who  are  more  apt  to  be  guided  in  their  choice  by 
minor  qualities  than  we.  It  is  not  empty  flattery  if 
I  say  of  them : 

Beauty  is  not  much  to  miss, 

Women's  verdicts  are  not  serious, 
One  that  no  Thersites  is, 
Often  may  cut  out  a  Nireus. 

Die  Schoen'heit  wird  nicht  oft  vermisst, 

Die  Weiber  sind  nicht  streng  im  Schaetzen, 

Und  wenn  du  kein  Thersites  bist, 
Den  Nireus  kannst  du  leicht  ersetzen. 

It  is,  however,  self-evident  that  we  cannot  look 
for  an  ideal  of  manliness  in  a  crippled  Liliputian,  or 
a  scrofulous  weakling,  but  neither  will  Herculean 
limbs,  a  broad  bull's  neck,  and  the  strong  fists  of  a 
prize-fighter  represent  it.    A  vigorous,  symmetrical 


368  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

body  with  sound  organs,  to  which  must  be  added  — 
in  contrast  to  woman  —  broad  shoulders,  with  a 
corresponding  chest,  and  narrow  hips  over  legs 
which  are  neither  too  long  nor  bowed,  that  is  the 
necessary  material  substratum  for  a  manly  intellect 
and  character,  for  endurance  and  energy ;  but  phys- 
ical size  as  well  as  physical  strength  becomes  doubt- 
ful as  soon  as  they  exceed  the  general  standard  to  a 
marked  degree.  The  usual  outcome  in  such  a  case 
is  that  the  animal  and  aggressive  element  predom- 
inates, and  that  the  intellectual  and  humane  element 
does  not  suffice  to  spiritualize  the  bodily  organism 
correspondingly.  How  many  physical  giants  have 
there  been  who  were  also  intellectual  giants?  The 
human  brain  does  not  seem  to  grow  beyond  a  cer- 
tain measure.  The  largest  male  skulls  that  have 
been  measured  were  twenty-four  inches  in  circum- 
ference. If  a  skull  of  twenty-four  inches  can  make 
a  genius  of  a  man  six  feet  and  less,  then  a  skull  of 
twenty-two  indhes  on  a  seven-footer  would  stamp 
him  as  a  partial  idiot.  I  actually  feel  like  warning 
people  against  men  that  are  too  tall  as  well  as 
against  those  that  are  too  stout.  Tall  men  rarely  are 
great  men.  In  short,  no  one,  desirous  of  entering 
the  lists  in  a  review  of  manliness,  ought  to  be  taller 
than  six  feet,  and  if  any  one  can  lift  a  weight  of  a 
thousand  pounds  it  would  be  wise  for  him  not  to 
mention  it,  and  if  he  can  throw  six  opponents,  he 
ought  to  be  satisfied  with  two,  so  as  not  be  banished 
from  the  ranks  of  respectable    men    and    classed 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  3^9 

among  the  uncouth  Cyclops  and  giants.  The  an- 
cients made  of  their  mythological  representative  of 
clumsy  physical  strength,  Hercules,  a  stable-sweep, 
while  they  represented  Apollo  as  their  ideal  of  man- 
liness, whose  moderate  physical  dimensions  corre- 
sponded to  as  much  athletic  strength  and  skill  as  he 
required. 

In  spite  of  this  well-known  type,  however,  the 
man  with  the  strongest  bones  approaches  most 
nearly  to  the  vulgar,  I  am  tempted  to  say  the  demo- 
cratic ideal  of  manliness,  and  if  a  man  should  arise, 
who  could  pick  his  teeth  with  a  church  steeple,  the 
priests  themselves  would  proclaim  him  pope.  In 
America  he  would  be  elected  king  in  a  frock  coat 
for  life,  with  an  extra  allowance  for  cloth  for  his 
immense  coat,  and  extra  grub-money  for  his  un- 
usual stomach.  But  in  Germany,  in  the  fatherland 
of  Goethe  and  Schiller  —  ah!  what  an  ideal  suc- 
cessor to  Barbarossa!  Of  course,  he  would  then 
also  have  to  have  a  corresponding  beard,  that  would 
grow  through  the  table,  and  down  into  Hades,  so 
that  the  spirits  of  Father  Arndt  and  Father  Jahn 
could  most  submissively  twitch  it,  by  way  of  tele- 
graphing their  patriotic  blessedness  to  him.  What 
would  a  man  be  without  a  beard,  and  what  especially 
would  our  Germans  be  without  hair  on  their  face? 
Hair  is  so  essential  and  indispensable  to  them  that 
they  even  transfer  them  from  the  face  into  the 
mouth,  and  have  not  only  hair  on  their  lips  but  "hair 
on  their  teeth."     It  surely  cannot  be  very  compli- 


37°  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

mentary  to  a  man,  to  receive  his  name  from  his 
beard  instead  of  from  his  head.  And  yet  Frederick 
the  Red-Beard  has  become  the  German  ideal  of  a 
ruler.  Barbarossa  would  surely  not  have  become 
such  a  popular  figure  if  he  had  not  had  such  a  large 
red  beard,  and  his  present  substitute,  ad  interim,  in 
Berlin,  has  already  been  dubbed  Barba  blanca  by 
German  professors,  in  order  to  increase  his  popular- 
ity. If  his  beard  were  likewise  red,  half  of  the  popu- 
lation of  Germany  would  now  be  inmates  of  the  in- 
sane asylum,  from  sheer  red-haired  ecstacy,  and 
would  be  playing  Kyffhaeuser.  A  malicious  demo- 
crat, to  be  sure,  might  be  struck  by  quite  a  different 
thought.  He  might  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  most  intellecual  of  the  Hohenzollerns,  Freder- 
ick II.,  and  Frederick  William  IV.,  had  no  beards, 
but  that  the  hero-emperor  and  his  son,  like  their 
bushy  brother,  Victor  Emanuel,  let  theirs  grow  into 
regular  coachmen's  beards,  as  if  anxious  to  manifest 
thereby  their  ability  to  guide  the  wagon  of  state. 

What  a  mysterious  thing  it  is,  this  hair  in  the 
face!  With  our  first  ancestors,  the  apes,  who  did 
not  yet  indulge  in  any  reflections  on  womanhood 
and  manhood,  much  less  on  humanity,  and  who  had 
no  women  as  yet,  but  only  females,  the  latter,  ac- 
cording to  Darwin,  also  had  hairy  faces ;  but  as  the 
female  gradually  became  a  woman,  the  hair  dis- 
appeared, and  if  we  should  now  imagine  our  women 
with  hairy  cheeks,  our  hair  would  stand  on  end. 
Does  the  beardless  face  of  the  woman  not  indicate 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATlONS.  37 * 

that  the  hairy  face  of  the  man  is  a  survival  of  the 
time  of  brute  man?  Does  it  not  suggest  the  conclu- 
sion, .the  more  hair  the  less  human  being?  It  must 
not  be  inferred,  however,  that  bald-headed  men  are 
the  representatives  of  humanity.  We  also  note  that 
where  inhumanity  is  cultivated  most  —  namely, 
among  soldiers,  the  beard,  too,  plays  a  great  part, 
just  as  animals  of  prey,  lions,  bears,  wolves,  etc., 
distinguish  themselves  by  the  thickest  and  most 
shaggy  furs.  We  cannot  well  imagine  a  true  cham- 
pion of  the  sword,  a  model  policeman,  a  thoroughly 
qualified  bailiff,  without  a  bristling  thicket  under  his 
nose  wherein  his  commanding  and  swearing  voice 
can  break  itself  in  a  right  threatening  manner.  If 
we  could  imagine  all  beards  as  suddenly  extermin- 
ated we  should  involuntarily  have  to  presuppose  at 
the  same  time  the  abolition  of  wars,  for  hairless  faces 
remind  us  of  humanity,  while  the  shaggy,  rough 
appearance  can  be  interpreted  and  justified  only  as  a 
constant  advertisement  of  a  corresponding  barbaric 
calling.  It  seems  to  me  that  if  two  armies  of  smooth- 
ly shaven  faces  were  confronted  with  each  other, 
they  would  hesitate  to  fire. 

I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  more  men  ad- 
vance in  intelligence  and  humanity,  the  more  will 
they  lose  the  hair  in  their  faces.  Also  in  this  re- 
spect the  intellectual  and  refined  Greeks  give  us  an- 
other eloquent  hint.  While  they  furnished  all  those 
gods  to  whom  they  attributed  the  coarser  qualities 
and  manifestations  —  Zeus,  the  thunderer,  first  of 


372  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

all  —  with  an  abundant  growth  of  hair  on  the  face, 
they  represent  their  ideal  of  manliness,  the  god  of 
light,  of  beauty  and  of  the  muses,  without  a  beard. 
They  spared  him  all  the  cheap,  martial  distinctions 
that  remind  one  of  coarseness,  in  order  to  let  his 
intellect  and  character  speak  undisguised  in  all  his 
lines  and  forms.  The  whole  Apollo  would  now  be 
distasteful  to  us  if  we  were  to  conceive  of  him  like 
one  of  our  modern  men,  with  cheeks,  mouth  and 
chin  covered  by  a  growth  of  hair,  beneath  which 
the  lips  would  open  like  a  hidden  fissure  in  a  rock 
that  led  into  an  underground  cave,  while  the  nose 
would  protrude  like  a  wind-broken  tree  trunk  from 
the  underbrush.  And  now  the  aesthetic  reflections 
to  which  such  a  hairy  god  of  the  muses  would  stimu- 
late us,  if,  with  the  help  of  the  achievements  of  our 
modern  civilization,  we  should  equip  him  with  all 
the  consequences  of  a  beard,  among  others  such  as 
remnants  of  food  adhering  from  the  just  completed 
divine  meal,  flavored  with  the  juice  of  the  Olympian 
cigar,  smoked  after  dessert,  and  perfumed  with  in- 
fernal tobacco-smoke  —  and  then  imagine  this  di- 
vine mouth,  enriched  by  this  threefold  cosmetic, 
pressed  upon  the  unsoiled  lips  of  a  horrified  muse. 
Alas,  our  women  submit  to  such  kisses  without 
being  horrified.  They  are  as  great  sufferers  as  their 
tobacco  perfumed  lords  are  aesthetic  barbarians.  Is 
there  any  more  hostile  contrast  in  the  world  than  a 
tender  kiss  on  a  beautiful  mouth,  by  the  lip  adorned 
with  a  tobacco-saturated  brush?     But  they  meet, 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.         373 

nevertheless.     Truly,  man  is  always  the  greatest 
monster  when  he  least  thinks  of  it. 

But  is  not,  in  spite  of  all  aesthetics,  a  beard,  espe- 
cially a  beard  under  the  nose,  considered  to  be  just 
as  indispensable  an  attribute  of  manliness  as  the 
fuming  instrument  called  a  pipe  or  cigar,  with  which 
even  ten-year-old  fire-eaters  practice  manliness,  un- 
til they,  like  other  volcanoes,  emit  smoke  followed 
by  an  eruption?  How  very  cheap  is  this  manliness, 
whose  credentials  are  a  bush  of  hair  and  a  cloud  of 
smoke !  Even  the  ancients  felt  that  this  pretentious 
growth  of  hair  was  a  superfluous  addition,  or  a 
cheap  ornament,  and  they  tried  to  get  rid  of  it  by 
the  aid  of  burning  nutshells  and  similar  expedients. 
But  since  the  razor  has  been  invented,  this  greatly 
depreciated  instrument  of  civilization,  almost  all  in- 
tellectual men  have  attempted  to  free  themselves  of 
this  animal  distinction,  and  to  show  their  human 
physiognomy  openly  to  the  world.  We  can  no  more 
think  of  a  Rousseau  or  Voltaire,  a  Schiller  and 
Goethe,  a  Lessing  -and  Boerne,  a  Kant  and  Hegel,  a 
Mozart  and  Beethoven  with  a  mustache,  or  a 
Henry  IV.,  than  we  can  think  of  the  hero-emperor, 
and  his  blood-and-iron  men,  without  bristles  in  their 
faces.  But  this  man  of  bristles  cannot  hide  his  taste 
for  the  barracks,  even  behind  the  diplomat,  unlike 
that  French  ambassador  to  the  Turkish  court,  who, 
when  the  Sultan  made  some  remarks  about  his 
smooth  face,  answered :  "If  my  master  had  known 
that  the  beard  was  considered  the  principal  thing 


374  THE  RIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

here  he  would  have  sent  a  billy-goat  as  ambassa- 
dor." 

If  I  could  ascribe  design  to  nature,  I  could  see 
behind  this  freak  of  afflicting  man  with  a  beard  no 
other  motive  than  that  of  helping  along  the  barber 
business,  or  of  thwarting  physiognomy.  While  our 
women  show  us  all  the  feature  of  their  face  openly, 
so  that  we  can  read  everything  that  nature  has  im- 
printed there  in  her  own  language,  our  overgrown 
countenance  is  to  them,  if  not  a  book  with  seven 
seals,  at  least  one  with  an  obscure  text,  from  which 
they  perhaps  read  something  very  different  than  it 
really  contains.  Who  knows  but  that  many  a  bride, 
who  goes  to  the  altar  with  a  bearded  man,  would 
think  of  divorce  on  reaching  home,  if  her  new  hus- 
band should  happen  to  get  shaved  on  the  way?  If 
1  were  a  girl,  I  should  only  accept  my  husband  from 
the  hands  of  the  barber,  and  should  at  most  show 
some  leniency  toward  his  side  whiskers,  for  I  should 
want  to  see  his  true  face  ,and  only  the  face  without 
the  beard  is  the  true  face.  But  I  should  certainly 
not  allow  the  beard  to  decide  his  manliness.  We 
see  many  a  man,  viewing  his  surroundings  from  out 
of  his  shaggy  face  like  a  lion,  seeking  whom  he  may 
devour;  but  after  he  has  been  under  the  barber's 
care,  a  most  pathetically  innocent  and  childlike 
physiognomy  will  perhaps  smile  at  us,  so  that  a 
mother  might  be  tempted  to  offer  her  breast  to  the 
lion.  Nature  seems  to  have  supplied  many  a  man 
with  a  beard  for  no  other  reason  than  that  no  other 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  375 

man  should  be  tempted  to  propose  marriage  to  him. 
Nevertheless,  these  bushy  men  are  all  proud  of  their 
shagginess,  as  a  sign  of  "manliness."  Whoever  is 
afflicted  with  a  strong  beard,  very  well,  let  him  see 
how  he  can  get  along  with  it;  but  whoever  is  proud 
of  his  beard,  he  surely  has  nothing  else  of  which  he 
can  be  proud. 

I  have  spent  so  much  time  over  the  physique  of 
the  male  sex,  and  its  most  striking  characteristic, 
because  it  furnishes  the  foundation  for  the  coarse 
and  stupid  conceptions  of  manliness  that  have  come 
down  to  us  from  past  barbaric  times,  but  are  even 
now  the  prevailing  notions  of  the  great  majority.  If 
we  suppose  the  bony  framework  of  the  male  re- 
duced to  a  moderate  size,  and  the  male  faces  de- 
prived of  their  bearded  addition,  then  the  chief 
foundation  for  male  brutality  and  conceit  seems 
likewise  to  have  disappeared.  The  soldier,  as  well 
as  the  rowdy,  the  tyrant  of  woman  as  well  as  the 
braggadocio,  is  lost  to  view,  and  the  human  being 
alone  stands  before  us.  But  it  is  the  human  being 
that  we  have  above  all  to  deal  with.  Whenever, 
therefore,  we  investigate  the  requirements  of  true 
manliness,  we  must  first  of  all  answer  the  question: 
Can  he  be  a  true  man,  who  is  not,  first  of  all,  a  true 
human  being?  And  what  is  it  to  be  a  true  human 
being?  This  last  question  I  have  attempted  to  an- 
swer in  a  special  lecture  on  "Humanity."  I  must, 
therefore,  be  as  brief  as  possible  in  its  application 
to  manliness. 


376  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

Although  we  must  retain  strength  as  a  necessary 
attribute  of  manliness,  we  are  yet  bound  to  look 
for  the  distinctions  of  manliness  in  the  intellectual 
and  ethical  domain,  especially  in  an  age  when  in- 
ventions and  discoveries  constantly  tend  to  diminish 
the  value  of  physical  strength.  It  is  in  the  work  of 
its  own  destruction  in  murder  at  wholesale  that  it 
still  plays  a  chief  part.  What  a  hopeless  and  dis- 
gusting thought  this  is  that  we  must  form  our  mas- 
culine ideal  according  to  the  ideas  of  a  king  of  Prus- 
sia, or  a  similar  military  type !  And  yet  how  many 
men  and  women  are  there  who  would  not  bow  be- 
fore the  uniformed,  betressed,  beribboned  and 
bearded  form  of  a  barbarian,  whose  entire  skill  and 
knowledge,  whose  whole  thinking  and  striving, 
consists  in  the  senseless  and  bloody  craft  of  mur- 
dering his  fellowmen!  The  longer  his  list  of  slain, 
the  greater  the  man;  the  more  bullets  he  heard 
whistling  past  him,  the  more  admirable  his  cour- 
age. Picked  patriots  harness  themselves  to  his  tri- 
umphal chariot,  and  virgins,  all  clad  in  white  —  O 
Lord,  forgive  them,  they  know  not  what  they  do !  — 
strew  flowers  in  the  path  of  the  monster.  But  who- 
ever expresses  his  disgust  at  such  manliness,  and 
allows  his  disgust  to  increase  with  the  size  of  the 
bloody  deeds,  who  despises  such  courage  as  the 
brutal  insensibility  of  a  hardened  barbarian,  he  is 
branded  by  the  vulgar  judgment  of  thoughtless 
slaves  and  patriots  as  an  enemy  of  the  people  or 
fantastic  crank.    How  very  cheap  would  be  man- 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  377 

liness  and  manly  courage  if  we  had  to  con-cede  it  to 
all  those  who  have  stood  in  a  "shower  of  bullets," 
or  looked  into  the  mouths  of  cannon !  Every  Rus- 
sian musketeer  would  by  this  test  occupy  a  higher 
plane  than  the  noblest  and  most  courageous  trib- 
une of  the  people.  Let  those  be  most  highly  appre- 
ciated as  men  who,  although  they  are  enemies  of 
the  murderous  craft,  still  risk  their  lives  against  bar- 
barians for  humane  ends;  but  so  long  as  we  do  not 
place  this  bloody  craft  itself,  and  all  those  that  do 
homage  to  it,  together  with  their  distinctions  and 
heroic  deeds,  their  glamour  and  their  fame,  under  the 
ban  of  our  contempt  and  disgust,  so  long  as  we  do 
not  acknowledge  it  to  have  a  brutal  rather  than  a 
manly  character,  so  long  have  we  no  idea  of  true 
manliness.  Where  manliness  shall  and  must  still  be 
decorated  with  blood,  let  it  be  at  least  with  the  blood 
of  barbarians  or  tyrants. 

But  the  contemptibility  of  these  greatly  admired 
models  of  manliness,  reared  in  the  barracks,  be- 
comes downright  unfathomable,  if  we  view  them 
in  the  light  of  a  combination  of  slaves  and  barbari- 
ans. What  caricatures  of  men  do  those  proud  com- 
manding heroes  present  who,  in  the  thunder  of  can- 
nons, gallop  at  the  head  of  thousands  of  drilled 
homicides,  in  order  to  shrink  back  tremblingly  be- 
fore the  glance  of  an  august  superior,  and  who 
would  perish  under  the  frown  of  a  most  gracious 
master!  Even  the  most  dreadful  become  carica- 
tures like  these  through  their  servility.    There  is  no 


378  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

more  glaring  antagonism  and  contrast  than  that  be- 
tween subject  and  man;  but  a  uniformed  subject,  let 
him  wear  epaulets  or  shoulder  flaps,  who  will  allow 
himself  to  be  drilled  and  butchered  for  a  master, 
does  not  only  renounce  every  manly  and  human 
dignity,  he  even  sinks  below  the  animal,  for  even 
the  trained  hound  does  not  make  an  attack  with 
the  consciousness  that  he  is  using  his  teeth  for  his 
master.  Only  a  free  man,  conscious  of  his  sover- 
eignty and  individual  aims,  deserves  the  name  of 
man,  and  below  the  republican  there  cannot  be  a 
true  man  any  more  than  a  true  human  being.  So 
true  as  it  is  that  there  are  still  slaves  in  the  world, 
so  true  is  it  that  he  can  lay  no  claims  to  manliness 
who  can  live  and  sacrifice  himself  for  a  master.  For 
our  loved  ones  and  friends,  as  well  as  for  an  im- 
periled right,  or  any  other  noble  cause  of  our  con- 
viction, we  may  risk  our  lives  without  forfeiting  the 
consciousness  of  manliness,  and  individuality;  but 
to  give  it  up  for  a  master  or  idol,  who  sends  us  into 
the  fire  as  his  creatures  and  instruments,  is  the  deep- 
est degradation  and  prostitution  of  which  a  male 
being  is  capable.  What  a  boon  for  mankind  would 
it  be  if  this  great  and  simple  truth  could  be  made 
clear  to  all  subjects!  If  the  twenty  millions  of  our 
male  countrymen  on  the  other  side  of  the  water, 
who  have  allowed  themselves  to  be  puffed  up  as 
masculine  ideals,  on  account  of  their  deeds  of  servile 
heroism,  would  but  once  become  truly  conscious 
of  what  it  is  to  be  a  man,  Germany  would  be  a  re- 
public within  twenty-four  hours ! 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  379 

Struggle,  constant  struggle  is  the  soul  of  human 
life,  but  let  the  objects  of  the  struggle  be  humane, 
and  the  weapons  intellectual.  Let  us  struggle  with 
nature,  through  whose  bounty  we  are  able  to 
achieve  a  more  beautiful  and  a  nobler  existence. 
Let  us  likewise  struggle  with  ourselves,  in  whom 
nature  has  repeated  the  play  between  its  destructive 
and  creative  forces,  in  the  strife  between  passion 
and  reason.  That  man  must  be  tedious  and  devoid 
of  character  who  is  not  stirred  by  passions;  but  he 
who  has  not  learned  how  to  control  himself  becomes 
despicable  and  disgusting.  Let  us  struggle  with  the 
necessities  and  adversities  of  life,  which  impose 
upon  us  the  ordeal  of  remaining  firm  in  our  pur- 
poses and  true  to  ourselves.  Let  us  struggle  with 
baseness,  that  would  degrade  everything  that  is 
beautiful  and  noble  to  its  own  level.  Let  us  finally 
struggle  with  those  numerous  enemies,  who  live 
longer  than  the  uniformed  ones,  and  will  never  be 
exterminated — the  enemies  of  intellectual  progress, 
of  the  universal  rights  of  man,  of  universal  truth.  This 
struggle  will  bring  our  strength  and  our  courage 
to  a  nobler  test  than  the  raging  turmoil  of  the  battle- 
field, in  which  even  the  best  is  but  a  blind,  uncon- 
scious murderer  of  unknown  victims.  Without 
courage  there  is  no  manliness,  and  cowardice  is  the 
death  of  manliness;  but  its  highest  courage  is  moral 
courage,  the  courage  of  truth,  just  as  moral  coward- 
ice is  the  most  shameful  cowardice,  and  the  lie  is 
the  most  unmanly  vice.  Falsehood  and  manliness — 


380  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

who  would  undertake  to  harmonize  the  two?  And 
yet  how  many  are  there  who  do  not  lie,  with  whom 
it  is  a  point  of  honor,  and  a  necessity  of  character, 
that  their  words  shall  always  correspond  to  their 
thoughts,  and  their  deeds  to  their  words?  How 
many,  indeed,  who  as  much  as  live  up  to  the  adage, 
which  has  become  an  everyday  and  popular  motto : 
"A  word,  a  man?"  How  many  care  whether  they 
are  acting  manly  or  unmanly?  Is  it  manly  to  be 
satisfied  with  half-way  measures  and  compromises, 
in  the  antagonism  of  irreconcilable  contrasts,  while 
an  unflinching  principle  calls  for  completeness  and 
decision?  Is  it  manly  to  wax  enthusiastic  over  a 
cause  while  it  is  on  parade,  but  to  desert  it  later  on, 
when  action  is  called  for?  Is  it  manly  by  means  of 
intrigue  and  hypocrisies,  to  indulge  in  a  vain  ambi- 
tion, that  finds  higher  satisfaction  in  external  posi- 
tion, than  in  the  consciousness  of  inner  worth?  Is 
it  manly  to  devote  all  the  activities  of  life  merely  to 
base  gain,  that  leaves  no  inclination  and  no  strength 
for  nobler  aspirations  ?  Is  it  manly  to  flee  from  sens- 
ual enjoyment  after  the  fashion  of  the  ascetic,  and 
is  it  manly  to  sink  into  debauchery?  Is  it  manly  to 
be  a  slave  to  woman,  and  is  it  manly  to  be  a  woman- 
hater?  These  and  similar  questions  suggest  their 
own  answer  as  soon  as  they  are  put.  But  another, 
which  will  furnish  us  material  for  some  final  obser- 
vations, we  must  consider  more  at  length.  It  is  the 
serious  question :  Is  it  manly  to  condemn  woman  to 
subordination  and  refuse  to  grant  her  equal  rights? 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.  381 

If  even  in  general  anyjwant  of  magnanimity  toward 
the  defenseless,  and  the  abuse  of  superior  strength 
as  a  right  against  the  weak,  is  considered  unmanly, 
I  know  of  nothing  in  the  world  that  is  more  un- 
manly than  the  egotistic  denial  of  equal  rights  to 
beings  whose  equal  worth  we  cannot  question,  and 
who  are,  moreover,  as  indispensable  to  us  as  our 
own  life,  whom  we,  in  a  state  of  exaltation,  elevate 
to  angels  and  goddesses,  and  "at  whose  feet  we  lie," 
according  to  a  common  poetic  expression  of  the 
Don  Juans,  in  order  to  gain  their  favor.  Is  it  per- 
haps more  manly  "to  lie  at  the  feet"  of  a  being  who 
is  our  inferior  in  rights  than  of  one  who  is  our  equal? 
I  should  like  to  hear  such  a  prostrate  model  of  man- 
liness deliver  one  of  his  usual  declamations  on  the 
"feminine  sphere,"  at  the  moment  when,  with  hum- 
ble mien,  he  is  bending  his  knee  before  his  adored. 
The  sovereign  master  kneeling  before  the  disfran- 
chised slave,  from  whom,  by  cringing  flattery,  he 
would  obtain  a  gracious  smile,  in  order,  later  on,  to 
turn  against  her  as  the  brutal  tyrant,  the  heartless 
deceiver!  What  model  specimens  of  manliness! 
Any  little  goose  with  a  pretty  face  can  daily  amuse 
herself  with  putting  a  grim-bearded  lord  of  crea- 
tion to  the  test,  and  then  avenge  her  disfranchise- 
ment upon  him  by  a  scornful  refusal.  Indeed,  no- 
where does  this  proud  manliness,  that  rises  with 
so  much  sovereign  dignity  above  the  disfranchised 
woman,  suffer  shipwreck  more  frequently  and  more 
wretchedly,  than  in  his  dealings  with    this    weak 


382  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

woman,  without  whom  the  "strong  sex"  would  feel 
so  desperately  lonely  that  it  would  have  to  curse 
its  .own  existence.  Alas,  that  the  greatest  part  of 
the  curse  still  falls  upon  the  weaker  sex,  whose  de- 
plorable lot  of  misery,  grief  and  shame,  in  hundreds 
of  millions  of  its  degraded  members,  impeaches 
male  brutality,  baseness  and  want  of  conscience! 
If  humanity  is  one  hundred  thousand  years  old  we 
men  have  to  atone  to  women  for  a  wrong  of  one 
hundred  thousand  years'  standing,  and  we  can  do 
that  only  if,  by  granting  them  equal  rights  most 
completely,  we  give  them  an  opportunity  of  not  only 
bettering  their  own  lot,  but  also  of  helping  to  make 
us  unworthy  ones  worthy  of  them.  Who  can  real- 
ize the  self-delusion  of  egotism  that  it  requires  not 
to  be  surprised  at  the  monstrous  contradiction  of 
which  man  makes  himself  guilty  in  refusing  rights, 
most  obstinately  and  most  invidiously,  just  there 
where  he  claims  to  be  ruled  by  the  most  tender  re- 
gards, and  the  most  powerful  affections!  To  the 
despised  negro  he  grants  his  rights,  because  he  is 
forced  to  do  so  by  the  stress  of  circumstances;  to 
the  adored  woman  he  refuses  them  because  she  is 
not  backed  by  an  overpowering  necessity  that  came 
to  the  aid  of  the  negro.  Even  with  the  promptings 
of  his  most  powerful,  most  irrepressible  emotions, 
only  force,  and  not  a  voluntary  resolution,  can  bring 
him  to  acknowledge  and  grant  rights  which  he  can- 
not contest  on  any  reasonable  grounds.  Does  this 
not  prove  the  shameful  fact  that  the  entire  male 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  RELATIONS.  383 

sex,  in  blind  egotism,  insists  on  the  same  thousand- 
year-old,  historical  wrong,  for  the  senseless  and 
wicked  allegation  of  which  we  have  always  re- 
proach feudalists  and  princes?  The  thorough  de- 
struction of  this  egotism,  the  complete  renuncia- 
tion of  every  privilege,  and  the  free  union  of  the 
sovereign  woman  with  the  sovereign  man  that  will 
result  from  it,  will  usher  in  a  new,  a  nobler,  more 
beautiful  and  happier  life  for  humanity.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  show  that  the  degradation  of  woman  is 
not  only  the  chief  symptom,  but  also  the  chief 
cause,  of  the  social  and  moral  corruption  of  society. 
Her  elevation,  however,  will  be  its  salvation  and 
will  ennoble  the  race  in  general.  And,  however  we 
may  meditate  upon  and  construct  a  picture  of  a  fu- 
ture humanity,  its  most  beautiful  adorment,  and 
highest  happiness,  will  consist  in  the  nobler  rela- 
tionship between  the  two  sexes,  resulting  from  an 
equality  of  rights.  Already  Goethe  declared  woman 
to  be  the  bearer  of  the  ideal,  which  he  missed  in  the 
masculine  world,  and  minds  who  have  been  unable 
to  perceive  this  have  always  shown  themselves  un- 
able to  reconcile  human  existence  with  the  course 
of  the  world.  Let  me  call  attention  to  two  notable 
personages  of  most  modern  times.  The  philosopher 
Schopenhauer  was  a  woman-hater.  An  apostle  of 
his,  von  Hartmann,  a  blase  Berlinian,  and  son  of  a 
general,  is  a  despiser  of  woman,  who  would  grant 
man  the  privilege  of  ending  his  so-called  love  with 
the  satisfaction  of  his  sensual  desire,  to  which  the 


384  THE  BIGHTS  OF  WOMEN 

loving  woman  must  of  course  submit.  And  what 
is  the  meaning,  the  moral,  the  logical  outcome  of 
the  "pessimistic"  philosophy  of  these  two  woman 
haters?  In  a  word,  the  hopeless  doctrine  that  it 
were  better  if  the  world  did  not  exist  at  all,  that 
really  life  is  not  worth  living.  Of  course,  life  is  not 
worth  preservation,  if  we  cannot  appreciate  its  most 
beautiful  part,  or  trample  it  under  foot,  as  the  bru- 
tality or  satiety  of  men  has  hitherto  done,  in  spite 
of  all  the  poems  and  romances  of  love.  Every 
philosophy  of  the  world  and  of  life  which  results  in 
despair  must  be  unsound,  unnatural  and  false,  since 
a  contradiction,  justifying  such  despair  and  its  con- 
sequence, the  self-destruction  of  that  part  of  the 
world-life  that  we  represent,  is  inconceivable. 
Everything  that  we,  as  thinking  products  of  the 
world,  require,  must  be  attainable  by  us  on  the  spot 
upon  which  we  have  been  placed  by  its  develop- 
ment. All  phantasies  about  a  heaven  and  another 
life  are  done  away  with  for  us.  Outside  of  humanity 
there  are  for  us  no  motives,  no  hopes,  no  future,  no 
ideals.  Here  upon  this  planet  our  being  must  run 
its  course,  and  our  contentment  be  found.  But 
where  and  wi/th  whom  shall  we  find  it  but  in  living 
with  our  fellow-beings?  And  what  nobler  and  more 
complete  contentment  could  this  life  and  all  nature 
offer  to  man  but  the  true  love  of  man  and  woman? 
In  this  relationship  must  the  aspirations  and  the 
outcomes  of  the  reforms  of  the  future  find  their 
sublime  culmination,  and  their  most  beautiful  suc- 
cess.   To  educate  humanity  not  only  for  knowing 


AND  THE  SEXUAL  BELATIONS.         3§5 

and  thinking,  for  working  and  creating,  but  also 
for  loving,  which  our  present  groveling  life  seems 
designed  to  destroy,  that  will  be  the  most  beautiful 
and  most  profitable  task  of  future  society.  But  by 
education  for  love  I  do  not  mean  instruction  in  the 
"art  of  loving,"  as  was  given  by  the  frivolous  Ovid, 
but  an  education  which,  beginning  in  youth,  strives 
to  secure  all  the  conditions  for  true  marriage,  which 
will  free  love  from  all  narrow-minded  prejudices  and 
hypocrisies,  but  will  lead  the  free  virgin  into  the 
arms  of  the  uncorrupted  man,  and  teach  both  to  find 
their  most  beautiful  destiny  and  their  only  true  hap- 
piness in  an  intimate  and  lasting  union.  What  we 
are  now  reforming  and  striving  for  will  some  time 
lead  us  to  such  an  end,  however  distant  its  future 
may  be,  and  however  meager  the  hope  that  we  our- 
selves may  live  to  see  it.  That  will  neither  discour- 
age us  or  weaken  our  interest.  In  the  realm  of  ideas 
is  it  not  always  the  better  future  that  we  anticipate 
in  thought  which  inspires  and  sustains  our  reforma- 
tory efforts?  Do  not  the  highest  aims  toward  which 
the  mind  strives  always  lie  beyond  the  grave?  And 
has  the  striving,  on  that  account,  less  of  charm  and 
of  value  ?  Where  we  ourselves  live  to  see  the  accom- 
plishment of  that  for  which  we  have  struggled,  the 
reality  always  falls  short  of  our  expectations,  and 
the  residue  that  remains  must  then  serve  as  an  in- 
centive to  further  aspiration;  only  that  which  we 
experience  in  thought,  either  by  retrospection  or 
prevision,  do  we  experience  wholly,  undefiled  and 
unobscured. 


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